The One
by writing24
Summary: Michelle and Tony after season 2
1. Chapter 1

**Adults only. I do not own 24. Michelle and Tony after season 2. I hope you enjoy:)**

Tony could not believe the last couple of days he was having. After he had left the office he had gone home and slept for just a few hours before his little sister, Jo had turned up on his doorstep hysterical because she thought she might be pregnant. She had broken up with her boyfriend Ashton just a week earlier and when she had told him that she was late getting her period and had been feeling sick and thought she could be pregnant he had completely flipped out. She was only 19 years old and had no idea what to do. She had been living with Ashton but since their break-up had been crashing on friends couches and hadn't told her family yet what was going on.

Tony couldn't believe it. It had taken him 40 minutes just to get her to finally talk to him and tell him the situation. He felt like screaming and going crazy but he could see how terrified his little sister was and the last thing he wanted to do was make her feel worse. He was happy she felt comfortable enough to confide in him and come to him when something was wrong but this was not the type of problem he knew how to handle, he didn't even know where to start. She refused to allow him to call their mom yet. They had spent the best part of the last 30 minutes sitting almost in silence as they both tried to get their head around the situation and figure out what to do. She kept looking at him, begging with her eyes to make her feel better and help her but he had never felt so lost.

He had spent the last half hour thinking about calling Michelle. He had wanted to catch her before she left the office this morning and ask her to coffee but she had slipped out before he worked up the courage. Then he talked himself out of it when he got home, sure she would reject him after the hell he had put her through during the night. He had promised himself that when he woke up he would call her, he desperately wanted to check on her and know that she was ok. He hated even the thought of her being on her own after the day they had had and wanted to be the one that looked after her, he just didn't know how she felt. He figured that if he could sit here with his sister this hysterical and still not have a minute go past that he wondered and worried about Michelle that he must have fallen for her deeper then he had even admitted to himself yet. He told Jo he was going to call Michelle and ask for her advice. Jo knew all about Michelle and instantly bomb-barded him with questions about if something had happened between them. He told her it was complicated but that he trusted her more than anyone. They needed another woman's help on this and if she was going to let him call their mom then Michelle was the only other woman he would go to about this.

He picked up his phone and went to dial and then hung up. Could he really call her now, after everything that had happened and expect her to help him with something this personal? They hadn't even been for a coffee yet and he was going to call her asking for advice on how to handle his maybe pregnant little sister? He had to talk to her though, he had to hear her voice and know how she was going. He decided he would call and see how she sounded and then take it from there.

It rang a few times before she answered.

"Dessler...I mean, hello?"

Tony smiled a little. "Michelle, its Tony."

He could hear the surprise in her voice. "Hi Tony...how are you doing?"

"Umm ok, yeah, well...alright...I just..." He couldn't even get out a bloody sentence. This woman literally got him so flustered sometimes he couldn't think straight. He felt like an idiot.

He went to try again but she got in first, "What's wrong Tony, where are you?"

"Sorry. I'm at home. I'm here with my sister."

"Jo? Is she keeping you company?"

"Not exactly. I've got a problem Michelle and I know you have just had the day from hell and I don't even know if you want to talk to me after everything that happened but..."

"Why would you say that Tony? What's wrong?"

He stuck his head out his door and looked down the corridor to make sure Jo was still in the other room and out of hearing range. He closed his door and sat on the bed. "It's just...well she rocked up here a couple hours ago hysterical because she has broken up with her boyfriend and she thinks she might be pregnant..."

"Oh my god..."

"Tell me about it! She is only 19!" He could feel his blood beginning to boil again. He couldn't believe his sister had gotten herself into this situation.

Michelle's tone was soft and caring. "You said she thinks she is pregnant, does that mean she doesn't know for sure?"

"Yeah, that's the thing. She hasn't done a test yet, or seen a doctor. She hasn't got her...ummm..she's late getting her..."

Michelle smiled and helped him out, "Her period Tony?"

"Yeah, that thing. And she's been feeling sick in the mornings and I don't know she just seems convinced she is. But she won't talk to our mom about it yet and..." He laid back and slammed his head into the pillow, "Michelle, I don't know what the hell I am doing. I want to be supportive and look after her but I barely even know what to say. I'm doing everything I can not to just lose it here but I don't know how to handle this situation. I mean, of course I can go get her a test but I wouldn't even know what type and then what if she is? What do I do? What am I supposed to be saying or doing and..."

Michelle had never heard Tony so flustered before. She thought it was adorable. She cut him off, mainly to put him out of his own misery because it sounded like he was going to just keep rambling everything thought he had at the moment. "Hey hey...slow down, it's going to be ok. Just need to take this one step at a time..."

"I'm hopeless at this Michelle, I don't want to fuck up..."

"Don't say that Tony! You are amazing with dealing with hard situations..."

"Terrorists...terrorists I can handle...NOT my 19 year old sister being pregnant!"

She could tell he was getting more and more worked up. She hated hearing him upset like this and she wanted to be able to help him, be the one that calmed him down and made him feel better. "Tony, does Jo know you have told me?"

"Yeah...God, I am so sorry to have called and just dumped all of this on you Michelle. This is the last thing I should have done, you have enough to be trying to deal with..."

"I'm glad you called me Tony."

"You are?"

"Listen, do you want me to go and pick up a test for you guys and drop it over?"

She was so amazing to him. He couldn't believe it but he was actually smiling a little. Just hearing her say she was glad he had called her and offering to help out made his heart race a little. "I can't ask you to do that Michelle. You should still be sleeping..."

"I haven't slept yet Tony and I really don't mind."

"WHAT? Why haven't you slept? You must be exhausted!"

He could tell by the tone in her voice she was struggling. "I can't sleep."

He lowered his voice. "Oh Michelle. I'm sorry, I wanted to call you before, and I was worried about you going home on your own after everything that happened. What have you been doing?"

Her voice was a little jerky as she was trying to not start crying. "I don't know, just thinking. Cleaning...I just hate closing my eyes right now..."

Tony felt sick. "I feel like an asshole. You have just been through the worst 2 days of your life and I now called and put all this crap on you. I shouldn't have called you about this Michelle, I don't want you to..."

"No, seriously Tony, I am glad you did. I want to help. Let me at least just go get a test for you guys."

There was silence for a moment as Tony thought.

"Please?"

It sounded to Tony now like she almost wanted to help to probably distract herself. "Ok but I'll come and get you, I don't want you driving when you haven't slept for this long."

"I'm ok..."

"No. Not even up for negotiation. I really appreciate you helping me out here Michelle but I don't feel comfortable that you are safe driving so this is only going to work if you let me come and get you."

"Alright."

"Do you mind if Jo is with me? I don't think I should be leaving her on her own at the moment."

"Of course not."

"Ok, thanks Michelle, I really appreciate this. We will be there shortly."

When he hung up the phone he took a moment to let the conversation sink in. He was still smiling from just hearing her voice and thinking about getting to see her. He felt horrible that she hadn't slept and he was determined to help her feel better. He had no idea how he was going to do that but he promised himself that he would do anything in the world to make Michelle happy. If he wanted a real chance with her he had to show her that he could make her happy and look after her. He grabbed his jacket and made his way out to Jo and explained what they were going to do.

Tony and Jo tried to spend the drive over to Michelle's talking about everything else but what was going on. In the end, he spent most the time answering Jo's questions about Michelle and finally admitting to her that they had kissed. He stressed to her though that he had no idea how Michelle really felt about him and that things had gotten really hard for them at work after that and he just didn't know what was going on.

"Jo, I know you are really scared about what is going on at the moment and I promise you that I will do everything I can to support you. I just need you to be aware if...if things seem a little funny with Michelle, or something...that she has had a really horrific last 2 days and I'm not sure how she is feeling about it."

"God Tony, I feel bad. She shouldn't be dealing with my crap!"

"No, it's ok, she said she was happy to help and I think maybe it is a good distraction but I am just trying to warn you that she has to be hitting like 3 days of no sleep now. Not to mention I put her through hell at work and we both lost colleagues...friends, yesterday and so if Michelle or I seem uptight or stressed or whatever it is because of all of that. Am I even making sense?"

"Yes Tony. I am sorry that it sounds like you guys have been through a lot and I am sorry I have just added to your stress..."

"You're my little sister Jo, I am always here for you no matter what else is going on, ok?"

"Thanks bro."

He smiled a little, "I'm glad Michelle is coming cause I really have to say I don't know what I am doing here."

Jo laughed. "Ya know you totally blush every time you even mention Michelle! I am actually very excited to finally meet this woman that has been driving my brother up the wall for over a year now."

"She's incredible." He said it loud enough for Jo to hear but it was almost like he was talking to himself.

When they pulled up, Michelle was already waiting outside. She went to jump in the car but Tony told Jo to wait a moment and jumped out. He ran around to Michelle and gave her a hug straight away. He felt her wrap her arms around him tightly and it felt so good he couldn't believe it.

"Hey." He whispered into her ear.

"Hey."

When he pulled back out of the hug he could see her eyes were a little watery. She had jeans and a sweatshirt on with her hair flowing all over the place. She was stunning and he loved seeing her in casual clothes. She took his breath away. "You ok?"

She nodded her head but he could tell she was close to tears. "Just good to see you Tony."

He smiled. "You have no idea how good it is to see you. Come get in, meet Jo."

Jo had climbed into the back seat and Tony opened the door for Michelle. He introduced them both as she climbed in. Within minutes of being on the road the 2 girls were already chatting and having a good laugh. Tony couldn't believe it. Michelle had a way of making anyone feel comfortable and happy in her presence.

"Thank you so much for coming and helping Michelle, I hope you don't mind that Tony called you."

"I am glad he called and it is nice to finally meet you Jo."

"You too. Do you ummm...I mean...do you know what type of test I am meant to get?"

Michelle could feel Tony's eyes trained on her. Like he was studying her reaction to the question. She knew he was wondering if she had ever had to buy one of these before. "There are a million different types to pick. My suggestion would be for us to get a couple different ones, different brands."

"I just can't believe I am having to do this. I don't know what I am going to do if it says yes. This is just the...I am in so much trouble..."

"Hey hey Jo, you have to take this one step at a time. I know you are probably feeling completely overwhelmed at the moment but you have to try and just concentrate on the things that are within your control. Tony and I are both here with you and we will make sure you are ok. Even if the tests says yes, you still need to go and see a doctor first thing tomorrow morning."

"Really?"

"Yes, they will do a blood test and make sure 100%. But let's not even worry about that bit until we know. First thing is to do the at home test. How many days late are you? If you don't mind me asking?"

Jo shook her head. "This is my 9th day late and I am never late! I've been feeling crappy and being sick in the mornings the past few days as well."

By this point Michelle was turned around in her seat talking to Jo. Jo was tearful. "I was careful...Tony I know you don't even want to be hearing about this stuff but I want you guys to know I did the right thing. I was being responsible..." She started to really sob. Michelle took her hand and squeezed it.

"Sometimes it doesn't matter how careful you are, it can still happen. But you can't give yourself a hard time about it Jo. You did everything you could to do the right thing."

Tony told Jo that he would support her no matter what. She was right, he was cringing on the inside hearing about all this. He hated the thought of any guy touching his sister. She would always be his little sister in his mind and the idea that she was even old enough now to be having sex made him feel weird. He tried to keep a straight face though, he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable. As he watched Michelle hold her hand, comfort and talk to her, he fell even more in love with her. He had never known any woman that would be as caring and comforting as Michelle was being. Considering this was the first time they had met and she wasn't even his girlfriend, she was showing him and his family more respect and support than any woman in his past ever had. That blew him away and he decided on the spot she was the one. He tried to keep his eyes on the road but he couldn't help but steal as many glances at her as he could. He wanted her to be holding his hand right now and as petty as it seemed, he almost felt jealous that is wasn't him getting to hold hands with her right now. He spent the rest of the drive listening to Jo tell Michelle all about Ashton and what a dick the guy was.

They pulled up and all 3 of them piled out of the car. When they found the right section, Tony and Jo stood back and a little and let Michelle scope out the selection. When Michelle noticed what they were doing she turned to Tony and laughed a little, "Don't you want to look as well?"

"I don't know which one?"

"Umm neither do I Tony, I've never bought one before either."

She smiled inside when she saw him grin a little at hearing that. As he stepped forward she bent down and started looking, "Why don't we get 2 or 3 different brands? They all seem to promote detection at different stages and claim they are like 99% accurate."

Jo started to pick a couple different ones up. "Yeah ok."

In the end, Jo and Michelle picked out 3 different tests whilst Tony stood there looking extremely uncomfortable and stressed by the whole situation. He was just glad Michelle was there to be helping Jo with this. He hated to picture her doing this alone. Tony paid for them and before they knew it they were walking back into his apartment.

Michelle pulled out all the instructions and went through them and then explained it all to Jo. It was extremely simple but she could tell that Jo was so flustered that she was having trouble concentrating. Jo needed someone to be taking control of the situation and guiding her through it. Michelle sent her off to the bathroom armed with everything and told her that she and Tony would wait for her in the next room. Jo told them she would be a few minutes, she just wanted a moment alone to think first and then she would do it. They told her they would be ready when she was ready.

Once Jo had left the room, Tony and Michelle were left standing in his living room. Tony felt himself become a little nervous again. "I can't thank you enough, you have been amazing with Jo..."

"I haven't done anything."

"Yes, believe me, you have. We were basically sitting here in silence before because we just didn't know what the hell to do. She's talking to you and I can tell she is so relieved to have our support. And you have saved my ass because I was freaking out beyond belief."

"Are you going to be ok if it is positive Tony?"

He shook his head and half laughed in a sad way, "No! Seriously, what is this going to mean Michelle? She is only 19. A kid herself! Not to mention the father is the world's biggest loser. She has just started college."

"I don't know Tony, I just know that if you think about how freaked out you are feeling, times that by about a million and that's how Jo will be feeling. So, no matter what, we have to be calm and do everything we can do help her stay calm and supported. And from what you have said, your parents are amazing, they will be a huge help as well."

"Yeah, you are right. We will get through it."

As he stared at Michelle he could see how tired she was. Her eyes were red and dark. She had her arms wrapped around her body as though she was cold. He put his hand out and nervously slid it across her shoulder and pulled her in to his body. "Are you cold?"

"I'm ok."

"You must be exhausted."

"I'm ok."

He pulled back and looked at her. "You can tell me Michelle. I'm exhausted and I got a few hours sleep before. How are you feeling...really?"

She looked down. "Just a bit...I don't even know Tony. I don't know how to get my head around everything. I'm just so so sorry for everything."

"What? What are you sorry for?"

"Everything! I'm sorry for everything. I didn't want to let you down yesterday, or get you upset, or in trouble. I should've done things so differently and I should have been better at..."

He couldn't let her continue. He was shocked at every word coming out of her mouth. He hated that he hadn't made her feel more supported, made her feel like she should be so proud of everything she had done. "Hey...hey, stop. I can't believe you are saying any of that. You have it so wrong. Look at me Michelle."

Her head waivered a little but stayed down. He could see her eyes were becoming watery. "Hey, look at me Chelle. I am so proud of you. The country would be at war if it wasn't for you. You were amazing yesterday. Look at me Chelle..."

She lifted her eyes a little. She shook her head and started to wipe her eyes, her voice was quiet and broken. "No, I can't...I can't...I'm going to cry Tony."

He wrapped his arms around her and tried to pull her in close. "That's ok. Cry Chelle, let it out. I am here for you...you are not alone. You can't keep this in and you don't need to try and be strong."

She put her hands on his chest. She looked like she was about to completely fall apart but was fighting it so hard. He had never seen her look so vulnerable and it broke his heart. "I can't...Jo is going to be out in a minute and we need to be here for her. I'll be ok, really."

"I don't care, I am worried about you. You need to let this out..."

"No, you are the last person I should be coming to about all this..."

That stopped Tony dead in his tracks. He felt shocked and hurt. "Why? Why am I the last person?"

"Because you..."

He had so much built up frustration and fear that he couldn't help but raise his voice a little and become defensive straight away. "Because I let you down? You are angry with me!"

She looked surprised by him. "No, that's not what I meant at all..."

"Why would I be the last when I think I should be the first? I know I let you down but you have to give me a chance to show you..."

"It's not any of that. You don't get it Tony! I already fell apart in front of yesterday. Right when I should have been strong I showed you how weak I am and now when you have so much else to be worried about, you are the last person I should be burdening with how I am feeling."

He couldn't believe how little she understood how much he cared for her. That she could even think for a second she would be a burden to him. He was angry at himself for letting her feel this way. "I can't believe you think that way. Don't you know how good you made me feel that you did let me hold you yesterday? That you opened yourself up and allowed yourself to be that way with me. Don't you get how special that moment was Chelle?"

"Y..yeah but..."

"You kissed me...you let me kiss you, you let me be that person and now you are going to shut me out?"

She stared at him, unsure of what to say. She was a little caught off guard that he spoken about their kiss, that he seemed so upset and hurt. "I don't want to Tony."

"Then DON'T!"

She used her hands on his chest to push him back a little. Finally tears started to roll down her cheeks. "You don't get it. I'm scared...I nearly lost you yesterday..."

He didn't let her push him back, instead he grabbed her hands to stop them and then he wrapped his arms around her pulling her into his body so tightly. It was so intense between them and they both felt so raw and so ready to completely fall apart. He held the back of her head pushing it into his chest. "I'm here sweetheart, I'm here. We are both safe and we are going to get through this." He could feel her hands were by her side. "Hold me Chelle, let me in...please."

She wrapped her arms around him and held him so tightly. He let out a sigh of relief. They stood just holding each other for a couple of minutes. A few times one of them would latch on even harder and the other one would hold on tighter as well. There was so much to say, for both of them but it was almost so overwhelming neither one of them knew where to even start. Michelle just wished this moment would never end, this was the safest and most comfortable she had felt in days and she needed Tony's strength right now.

Tony had almost forgotten everything else that was going on he was so wrapped up in holding Michelle and being so close to her. He was still a little stunned over what had just happen with them. They way she had gone to push him away but he had caught her and she had finally allowed herself to fall into his arms had been a very intense and emotional moment and it had made him realise how much there was between them. She felt so good in his arms, she fit perfectly, she smelled amazing and he was so ready to kiss her. However the sound of Jo screaming from the next room bought them both crashing back to reality and they jumped apart.

The door flung open and Jo stood there holding up 2 tests. She wailed, "I'm pregnant!"

Tony and Michelle both ran to her. She threw herself into Tony's arms and he held her and just let her cry for a couple of minutes. Both he and Michelle soothed her and repeated that she would be ok and that they would help her get through this. Eventually she began to calm down and pulled back out of the hug. She looked exhausted and emotionally drained.

Once things had calmed down a little, Tony made them all a coffee and they sat in the living room talking. They went over and over the situation, just allowing Jo to vent and work through the million thoughts going through her head. She had a couple of moments where there was a flash of excitement of being a mother. She had always loved the idea of having children, just not this young. They agreed that they would take her to the doctors the following day and then have their parents over the following night for dinner and Tony would help her tell them then. Their parents would be good about it, they would be shocked of course but they were nothing but loving and supportive and Jo knew once they got over the initial shock they would be there for her.

By 2am Jo was all talked out and falling asleep on the couch. Tony told her to go to sleep in his spare room. Jo hugged Michelle for a long time thanking her for everything. She knew that Michelle was the main reason Tony was handling this so well and she had been so good to her all night that she figured she would forever be in debt to her. They had barely even known each other for a day and yet Jo already felt so close to Michelle.

Once the door was closed and it was just the 2 of them again, Tony stood staring in the doorway and Michelle started to get off the couch.

"I'll never be able to thank you enough for what you did for us today Michelle. You were amazing, you kept me sane and got me through it and the support you gave us both was...well you are a life saver!" He smiled.

"Any time Tony. Jo is great and I know she will be just fine. It might be rough for awhile but she will get through this ok." She took a few steps closer to him. "I'd better go and let you get some sleep and..."

"You're leaving?"

The way he was so direct made her heart flutter a little. She wasn't used to this. They had spent a year so obviously caring for each other but working so hard to keep things professional that to even be standing in his apartment at 2 in the morning was strange enough to get her head around never mind him now so clearly asking her to stay the night. Of course she wanted to stay, in fact she figured she would completely fall apart if she had to go home and be on her own without him now but she was full of hesitation and fear. Between exhaustion, fear, confusion and self confidence she really didn't understand how Tony felt about her or what he wanted with her. She knew she loved him more than she thought it possible. That was almost the scariest part of this whole thing, that for every second she was with him she fell a little harder for him and yet she kept convincing herself he wouldn't feel the same way back.

"I...I don't have anything."

"So sleep in one of my t-shirts."

"What about..."

He took the final few steps until they were standing next to each other. He was so nervous his hands were shaking. "Stay with me Chelle. I can't stand the thought of you being alone and not sleeping. I don't want to push you or make you uncomfortable but I want you to stay."

She couldn't help the little grin from spreading across her face. "I want to stay, I will stay."

He got such a rush from the cheeky little grin on her face that he surprised himself more than her when he bent down and lifted her up into his arms and started to carry her towards his bedroom. She let out a little scream in shock and they both started laughing. It felt good, really good to laugh. He kicked his bedroom door closed behind him with his foot and set her down on the bed, keeping her in his arms. His voice was deep and husky as he whispered, "I only have one spare room here so unless you're going to kick me to the couch you are just going to have to let me hold you all night."

She pretended to think about it, "Ummm...do you snore?"

He had a huge grin. "Yes, probably."

"Do you steal the blankets?"

"Yes."

"Well then, how can I refuse all that?"

He trailed his hand up to her cheek. "I don't think you can but I can promise you this..."

"What"

"You won't know I'm snoring because I'll only be asleep if I know you are sound asleep and I'm going to wrap you up so tight in my arms that I'll keep you warm all night."

Michelle stopped laughing and stared into his eyes. "You are so amazing, thank you."

He leaned in and ever so softly kissed just below her ear. "Did you know that in the middle of the whole world falling apart, you make me smile? And when I see you smile, I am so happy I can barely think straight." He could hear her let out a little gasp at his words but before she had a chance to respond he closed his lips over hers and kissed her. He was still shaking a little out of nerves until he felt her run her hands through his hair and pull him in even closer. He groaned a little in relief and lust before leaning into her a little so that he could push her body down onto the bed.

Michelle felt like she was in heaven. She had dreamed a million times about finally being in this position with Tony and now to feel his body slowly pushing down into hers was amazing. She could feel his stubble was scratching her skin a little and when he trailed his fingers from her neck down her arm she couldn't help let out a sigh. She nearly died of embarrassment when this made him hesitate a little and look at her. The embarrassment quickly faded though when she could clearly tell this had only turned him on even more and he kissed her even more passionately back.

She was about to run her hands down his back when she heard Jo crying pretty hysterically from the next room. Tony mustn't have heard it yet because he kept going but when it got even louder she pushed him back up. "Tony, that's Jo. She is crying pretty bad. We have to go to her."

He closed his eyes and groaned. He started to sit back. She jumped up ready to dash into the next room. When she could hear he wasn't right behind her she looked back at him. He was sitting on the bed, completely red. "What's wrong?"

His voice was a little shaky he was so nervous. "Ummm...I just need a minute before I can get up."

Michelle looked at his lap and could see how obvious it was at how turned on he had become that made her blush and she could see he went even more red when she realised what he was talking about. She gave him a cheeky smile. "I'll go, its ok."

"Thanks, I'll be right behind you." He lowered his head and tried to think of anything else in the world but Michelle.

Michelle found Jo in the hallway holding her phone. As soon as she saw Michelle she ran into her arms. "I phoned Mom and Dad, I couldn't help it. I just started freaking out again and I thought you guys were asleep and I didn't know what to do and I just needed to talk to my mom..."

Michelle rubbed her back. "That's ok. How was your mom? Did you tell her?"

"Yeah, they are both on their way over. They took it better than I thought but I told mom I needed to see her and both her and Dad are going to come over. Do you guys mind?"

Michelle shook her head, "No, not at all. Whatever you need right now, you have to do."

Tony was now standing behind them. He was surprised that Jo had called their mom but then he remembered just how young Jo was still and how much she depended on her parents. He was relieved that his mom knew now. The 3 of them started to make their way back into the living room.

"I'm sorry I woke you guys up."

Tony started to make a coffee for them all. "No you didn't, besides it is ok Jo. I told you, we are here for you whenever you need us."

Michelle heard her cell ringing from the next room. She looked at her watch, it was nearly 3am. Her heart sank as she knew it could only be CTU calling at this hour. She raced for it. Tony watched her run for the phone and he cursed under his breath. There was no way in hell he wanted Michelle going into work at the moment. She was beyond exhausted and she had not dealt with the last couple days at all yet. He took the drinks over to the living room.

A minute later Michelle returned and stood in doorway. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. Tony went over to her. "What is it? What did they want?"

She didn't have a chance to answer before hi door went. Jo jumped up to answer it. Their mom and Dad, Shelley and Josh didn't even make it through the doorway before Jo was hugging them. Shelley held her tight and tried to soothe her that everything was going to be ok. She looked over Jo's shoulder at Michelle and Tony who were standing behind them. She smiled and then pulled out of the hug. Tony introduced Michelle to his parents. Shelley hugged Tony and then hugged Michelle thanking her for helping her daughter out so much and then told her how nice it was to finally meet her. Josh did the same.

Michelle let them get settled inside before turning to Tony. "I don't mean to be rude and I am so sorry but I have to go to work for a little bit."

Tony was shaking his head. "No way. Who was that that called you and what do they want?"

"It was Ryan. You know that Stiller case we have been working on? Apparently the head guy, Samuel was spotted at a bar. I'm the undercover placement so they need me to go there and see if I can talk to him..."

"Fuck that. There is no way in hell you are doing that now Chelle."

"I have to Tony. Ryan said I have to be there in a few minutes."

Tony grabbed his cell phone and saw the battery was dead and it was switched off. He grabbed Jo' cell phone and called Ryan.

"Ryan what's going on?"

"I've been trying to call you Tony. We have a lead on David James. I have just spoken to Michelle and she is going to go in undercover for us with Luke and Armond."

"I don't want Michelle going in Ryan. You need to find someone else."

"What the hell are you talking about Tony? Michelle is the one that has been working this case. We have been waiting months for this."

"Ryan, Michelle has been through hell the last few days, not to mention she hasn't had a day off in weeks. She is exhausted and still hasn't slept. We need to find someone else."

"Look Tony, I just spoke to Michelle and she said she would be here. I know how you feel about her but that doesn't mean you get to choose what she does or doesn't do. She would have had a chance to sleep today and she can go straight home to bed after..."

"She didn't though Ryan, she hasn't been able to..." He stopped himself, knowing he had completely just given away that he had been with Michelle but he didn't really care at this point. His heart was racing at the thought of Michelle going undercover trying to get to Samuel. He was a very dangerous man.

"I'm really sorry Tony but this has to be the way it is. I was trying to call you because I want you in there as well. Michelle will be fine she will have plenty of back-up."

Michelle stood there stunned along with Jo, Josh and Shelley as they listened to Tony argue with Ryan. She couldn't believe how angry Tony was and how openly he was sticking up for her like this. Whilst she really appreciated what he was doing for her, she knew that Ryan wouldn't cave. His family were shocked, they had never seen Tony in 'work mode' before and they had certainly never seen him so openly emotional about a woman before.

Finally Tony slammed the phone shut. "That fucking bastard. He won't listen to a damn word. What does he think we are all fucking robots or something and can just function 24 hours a day with no sleep?" He looked at Michelle. "I don't want you to do this, you can just say No Michelle."

"How can I Tony? I'll get in so much trouble. Besides, they really don't have anyone else to do it. I'll be alright..." She thought would cry if she stood there continue to argue and so she started to make her way down the hall to get her things.

Tony stood shaking his head and swearing under his breath. Shelley put her hand on his shoulder. "What's going on Tony?"

"They want us to go in NOW undercover at a bar. They want Michelle to try and get close to this guy we have been tracking for months and see if she can get information from him."

"Will you be there with her though? She will have back up to make sure she is ok right?"

"It's not the point mum." He looked to make sure Michelle couldn't hear although he was speaking so loud the people next door would be able to hear. "Do you get what this means? They want Michelle to pretend like she likes this guy to get his attention. He is one of the sickest, violent men in the world. Do you know what he could do to her? Besides, Chelle hasn't slept for nearly 3 days. She is exhausted!"

Michelle made her way back down the hall. "Tony, I don't have my car..."

"I'll drive you. I am coming as well. They were trying to call me but my phone was dead."

She nodded her head. "Ok."

"Mom and Dad, you can stay here with Jo right? We will hopefully only be gone for a couple hours."

"Of course."

Tony grabbed his wallet and jacket. He pleaded with Michelle one last time. "Please Chelle. I'll talk to Ryan, we have to be able to sort something else out. You are too tired, you can't do this."

"I'm not going to mess it up Tony if that is what you are worried about. I know I haven't slept but I can manage this."

"That's not what I mean at all." They stared at each other for a moment before Michelle started to head towards the door. She said goodbye to Jo and Shelley and told them she would see them soon. Tony did the same and then followed her out the door.

The car trip was spent in silence at the start. Michelle nervous and trying to keep it together and Tony fuming and trying to work out how to handle the situation. He could see that she was doing everything she could to appear as though she was alright but he knew her well enough to see straight through it. Finally he couldn't help himself, "You know what this guy is going to expect from you right? If you get close to him it is because he is going to expect you to be with him."

Michelle turned her head and stared out the window. "What do you want me to say here Tony? You were one of the ones that helped put this case together. I'm just going to have to deal with whatever comes up, the same as would be expected from any other agent in this position."

"So you could handle some fucking asshole putting his hands all over you, sticking his tongue down your throat, making you..."

"Stop it Tony! Stop it! As if I want any of that. What do you want from me?"

"I want you to stop pretending that you are fine. You always think you have to be strong and handle everything that gets thrown at you."

"But I do! What kind of agent would I be if I fell apart over everything that happened? Besides I don't have anyone that understands what goes on in my life to go to..."

"You have me!"

Michelle sighed. "Yes, but all of this has only just happened with us. I don't know what you are really thinking, what you really want. God Tony tonight was the first night I have even really spent outside of work with you."

"I know." He lowered his head. He didn't really know what it was he expected from Michelle. He felt so over protective of her and he hated the thought of anything ever happening to her. It had been hard enough the past year, loving her from a distance but now that he had actually kissed her, held her he had fallen so deep that the thought of anything happening to her was almost too much to bare.

Everything happened so fast when they arrived at CTU. Tony got dragged off to another room to be run through everything that was happening. He would be in charge of the unit going in. Michelle was taken off to get changed into a suitable outfit.

Michelle had been given a tight, very short skirt and an extremely revealing to put on. She felt humiliated walking out into the office in it. She could feel everyone's on her and she hated it. The second Tony saw her she could see his eyes bulge out of his head and anger spread across his face. He crossed the bull pen and pulled his jacket off and wrapped it around Michelle. Roy the guy that had given Michelle the clothes was right behind her. "Are you fucking kidding me Roy? I am not sending Michelle into a bar full of drunken men looking like that. Everyone is going to be all over her...this is ridiculous."

"It's all we have Tony that fits Michelle. Besides, I was told to find something that would draw a lot of attention to her."

Tony went to argue again but Michelle stopped him. "Tony, please don't. Everyone is already staring at me, don't make it any worse."

Roy had walked off by this point, quick to get out of Tony's firing range.

"Sorry Chelle...I just...you can't seriously be comfortable in that and..."

"Of course I'm not, I feel like a fucking slut. I know you think I look disgusting but Roy said they didn't have anything else..."

He shook his head and leaned in a little closer. "You look far from disgusting Michelle. You are stunning, too stunning, that's my problem, I don't want everyone getting to see you like that." He couldn't help but look at her cleavage; he had never seen her like this before. It was close to impossible not to touch her. He felt jealous of other men seeing her like this. Although he knew that Michelle was not his girlfriend and he had no idea what was going on between them, in his mind, she was his and he wasn't prepared to share her with anybody.

Michelle blushed at Tony's comment. He had never said anything like that to her before and it caught her off guard. She could see him staring at her, on one hand it was a little embarrassing but on the other it felt nice to know he was clearly checking her out. "If you have something else I can wear, I will but if you don't please don't say anything else, everyone is already staring and I feel so embarrassed."

He stood in front of her and did the jacket up. He didn't care who was watching them and how obvious he was being about his feelings for her. If anything maybe it was a good thing and all the other guys in the office would get the message to back off.

20 minutes later they were pulling up to the bar. They were all briefed on the way in. Basically there were the 4 of them going in, Luke, Armond, Tony and Michelle. The men were there to keep an eye on Michelle and try their best to talk to anybody that was there with David and get whatever information they could. Luke, Armond and Tony went in first as though they were a group and then Michelle followed a few minutes later.

David was sitting with a few friends knock back drinks. Tony watched as David noticed Michelle the second she walked through the door. His heart sank. She didn't even make it over to the bar before some other random guy went over to her and started talking. This was like Tony's worst nightmare. To have to sit and watch Michelle get hit on by a pile of different men and there was nothing he could do about it. He saw Luke smile when David got straight up and stood next to Michelle at the bar, "Shit, he didn't waste any time."

Tony could feel the lump in his throat getting bigger and bigger. "Yeah, not surprised. Keep a close eye on them guys, I don't want this getting out of control."

Michelle couldn't believe David had approached her so quickly. He was about 10 years older than her and a huge guy. He was well over 6 foot and his arms were bigger then one of her thighs. She felt intimidated immediately. She took some deep breaths and told herself over and over that she would be ok, she had the other guys here to protect her. He offered to buy her a drink and she accepted. As soon as they were given their drinks he led her over to a couch on the other side of the room away from his friends.

"So what's a pretty thing like you doing here at this time of night?"

Michelle tensed up when he put his hand on her knee. "I ummm...I just finished work and needed to unwind."

"Where do you work?"

"I work at a bar across town. What about you?"

"I'm a buyer."

"Of what?"

David shook his head and leaned in a little closer to her. "Let's not talk about work. I'm more interested in getting to know you."

Michelle wanted to cringe. This guy wasn't wasting any time. She needed to get him talking though or else this would all be pointless. "What do you want to know?"

He licked his lips. "How old are you?"

"24."

"Nice. And are you here alone?"

"Yes, well I am now. A friend is going to meet me shortly."

"What kind of friend?"

Michelle forced a smile, "Just a girlfriend."

"So you are single?"

"Yes. What about you?"

"Tonight I am." He laughed and ran his hand up her leg.

Michelle put her hand on top of his to stop him. It had been a natural reflex action. He looked pissed. She tried to ease the situation. "Sorry, I don't mind...I guess I am just a little use to getting to know a little more about someone first."

He kept his hand there and squeezed her leg a little. "Alright, if that makes you feel better about yourself. What do you want to know?"

"I don't know. Just tell me a bit more about yourself. How do you send your time? Are you from here?"

It was so clear he was just answering her questions so he could get on with making his moves. "I was born and raised in LA. I travel a lot with work. Work is my life really, so when I am not working I like to be able to relax and unwind a little if you get my drift."

Michelle gave him a flirty smile. "I do. What do you mean by a buyer? Do you run your own company or something to work so much? You have a very nice suit on so I assume you must be doing well."

He laughed as she had clearly stroked his ego. "Yes I have my own company. I don't like to work for anyone else. We buy umm...stock for other companies and trade. It is very complicated to get into right now. Maybe I can explain it to you a little more in depth next time..."

"You want there to be a next time"

His hand slid a little higher and squeezed her again. "Well let's see how we go but yes, I like you. Actually I have a little client luncheon on Sunday, you can come as my date..."

"Wow...that would be nice."

His expression became serious for a moment. "As long as you understand that you are there to be seen and not heard. You may talk with the other women there but the business stays between the men. It might be nice to have a little company there, I am sick of going to these things alone."

Michelle played with his tie, "It must get a little lonely sometimes travelling and working so much."

He smiled again. "Now you are getting it. Yes, it sure can but I think you can help me out with that." He looked at his watch and seemed to become annoyed.

"What's wrong?"

"I have a fucking conference call shortly that I have to attend."

"At this time?"

"I have clients overseas." He leaned forward and kissed her on the neck. "But I would like to think you will make it up to me on Sunday..."

She wanted to vomit as he kissed the side of neck. He smelt disgusting. His hand on her thigh actually hurt he was holding her tightly. "Yes...whatever you want." She wanted to talk to Tony and find out if there was anything else she should try and ask or do before this guy left. "Umm...can you excuse me for 1 minute so that I can go to the bathroom? Do you have time, I will be very quick."

He looked angry but raised his hand and brushed her off to go. 'What a pig' she thought to herself as she got up and made her way to the bathrooms. As she past Tony she quickly motioned to him that she was heading to the bathrooms, he nodded that he understood, waited a few moments and then followed her there.

As soon as they were around the corner in privacy she wanted to throw her arms around him but she couldn't, they didn't have time, "Hey, I just have a second because he is about to leave. He has asked me to join him at a work lunch the day after next. Is there anything else you want me to do or ask before he goes?"

"Not that I can think of. Anything you can about who is, or who is going to be there. Are you ok?"

"I just want to get out of here. He is making me feel sick Tony..."

"I know, you have done amazing. It is almost over."

"OK, just wanted to check, I better get back."

He ran his arm across her shoulders, "You are doing great Chelle, and we will be out of here in a few minutes."

They both turned to start walking back when out of nowhere David rounded the corner and came face to face with the both of them. Tony still had his arm across her shoulders and he tried to drop it down as quickly as he could but it was too late, they were face to face with David and he was glaring at them.

David greased Michelle off, "Didn't take you long, you slut. Who the fuck is this?"

Michelle took a side step from Tony, "No one, just an old friend I bumped to on my way back to you."

"Don't give me that shit, he had his hand on you. You little slut..."

Tony put his hands up, "Hey hey, it's fine. She is just a friend ok buddy? I'm out of here." He pushed past them both and started to walk away. He hoped to god David would just drop it. He walked slowly, trying to keep an eye on Michelle for as long as possible.

David stared at Michelle for moment before raising his hand and slapping her across the face. Tony saw and rushed back over to them. "What the fuck did you do that for?"

David looked at him and then motioned to 2 men that we now walking up behind Tony. "What's it to you?"

"She is an old friend! Nothing happened, you didn't need to do that."

David laughed, "She's a fucking hooker you prick, she deserves everything she gets. Now fuck off."

Tony stopped for a second. He knew he was close to blowing their cover but he wasn't prepared to walk away now knowing that there was a good chance David was going to keep beating Michelle. "Just leave her alone."

David nodded his head at the 2 men behind Tony, Tony turned to see who and what he was nodding at but barely turned all the way around before getting punched in the face by one of the men. He rebounded quickly, stood straight back up and punched the guy back. Within seconds it had turned into a full on fight. Luke had come to check on Tony and Michelle, saw what was going on and jumped in to help Tony.

Michelle was doing her best to fight the tears but couldn't help a couple running down her check. When she saw Tony shoved to the ground she instinctively went to help him but David grabbed her and pushed her into the bathrooms.

Before she knew what was happening, he had pinned her up against the wall. He pushed her so hard that her back slammed into something attached to the wall and it sent pain shooting through her body.

"Why did you have to hurt that guy? He didn't do anything."

"Forget about him, he should have minded his own business." He used his body to keep her pinned and his hands to hold her cheeks. He kissed her roughly and stuck his tongue down her throat. She almost gagged. She pulled back a little, "What are you doing?"

"Don't play games slut. You know exactly what I want." He ran his hand down under her skirt and grabbed at her.

Michelle didn't want to blow the whole situation but she also couldn't handle what was happening. "But, you're hurting me..."

He eased off for a second and pulled his hand back. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a pile of $100 bills. "I'm sure you could do with a little extra cash. What is your usual rate?"

Michelle couldn't believe this guy thought she was a hooker. It caught her off guard and she fumbled a little, "I umm...ahh...usually $100 an hour."

He put his hand up her shirt and snapped her bra open. Within moments he was roughly holding her. She could feel how hard he was as he pushed himself against her. She wanted to burst into tears. "Well I'll triple it. In fact...you do this lunch with me on Sunday and then we can have a little one on one time and I'll pay you a $1000 for the afternoon."

Michelle couldn't find any words, she was afraid if she opened her mouth she would burst into tears. So she nodded her head in agreement.

He slapped her across the face and she dropped to the ground. He kicked her in the side and then knelt down over her. "Next time you can act a little more grateful." He grabbed her chin and made her look up at him. "You think you can do that?"

She was so winded it was hard to speak but she gave it everything she had. "Yes, sorry. That would be amazing, that is very generous of you."

He smiled. He was sick, he got off on having power of people like this. He kissed her again on the mouth. "Make sure you cover that eye."

She went to nod her head again but caught herself. "Yes sir. Where do I go and what time do you want me there?"

"It is at my house in the hills." He pulled out a card from his wallet, turned it over and wrote his address on the back of it. He shoved it into her hand. "Be there at 1." With that he stood and walked out of the bathroom.

Tony and Luke had managed to overpower the 2 men and after knocking one of them completely out cold, the other put his hands up and backed off. Tony and Luke stood back, Tony was frantically looking for Michelle. She had disappeared when he was on the floor and he didn't even know which direction they went in. One of the men helped the other off the floor and then they both ran off down the hall. Tony looked at Luke. "Did you see where David took Michelle?"

Luke shook his head.

Tony slammed his hand against the wall. "You go that way, I'll check in the bathrooms."

As he pulled the door to the bathrooms open, Sam was just walking out. David looked shocked as all hell to see Tony standing there like that. Knowing that Tony must have beaten his 2 men, he pushed past him and ran down the hall as quick as he could. Tony let him go, he opened the door again, this time to Michelle about to walk out. He double checked David was gone before reaching out to take her hand, "Chelle..."

She looked up at him. Immediately he saw her eye was red and swollen. "Mother fucker."

Michelle looked at Tony and could see a black eye forming and a bit of bruising on his cheek. "Are you ok Tony?"

He nodded his head. "I'm fine, don't even worry about me." His body was aching like hell but he tried to just ignore it. None of that mattered, all that mattered was knowing that she was ok. "What did he do to you Michelle?"

Michelle kept walking, she pushed past Tony. "Nothing, forget it. I want to go home NOW."

"Hey, hey, it's me Chelle, it's Tony. What's happened?"

She wouldn't stop walking. He tried to stop her by putting his arms around her waist but she almost fell to the ground and let out a sob of pain. He was horrified. "Can we go Tony? I'm begging you to get me out of here now."

He had to help steady her. "Ok, ok we are leaving now." He spoke into his mouth piece and told the other guys to meet him and Michelle out the side entrance and to have the van pulled up. "I'm so sorry Michelle."

He checked again that he couldn't see David before holding the side door open for her and letting her out. As soon as they hit the street the van pulled up and they all piled back in. They were all basically silent as they let the events that had occurred sink in. Luke asked Michelle how she was.

Michelle still had her head down. She had put one hand up to cover her eyes. "I'm fine. I just want to go home."

It was hard for Tony to console her with so many people all crowded into the van. He felt sick to his stomach that she had been hurt. He had no idea how bad she was or what had happened. He wanted to ask her a million questions but she was clearly withdrawing and not ready to talk yet. He took her other hand in his and held it. He leant over and whispered into her ear. "We will be back into the office in just a few minutes. We will get you some help there."

She shook her head. "No, just take me home please. I don't want to see anybody."

"We need to go in and debrief about what happened Chelle. I will make it as quick as possible, I promise."

She kept her head down the rest of the way. She wanted to arguer but she knew procedure and there was no chance that they would let her go home before doing her debrief. She didn't know how to feel. She was worried about Tony and how badly he was hurt. He kept saying he was fine but she could tell he was in pain. She felt angry that David had been able to get her in the bathroom like that. She was so angry at herself for letting him take her so off guard like that and assault her like that. The whole thing had happened so quickly and he was so much bigger and stronger than her. She felt like a disappointment as far as being an agent was concerned, like she should have been able to handle the situation better. She felt violated and, humiliated and was in so much pain. She wished she hadn't told Tony about the lunch on Sunday because now CTU would make her go and the thought of ever being anywhere near that man again scared the living hell out her. She had never expected the situation to turn so bad so quickly. She stole a quick glance at Tony, who looked a mess and thought about how ashamed and disappointed he must be of her and what he would think if he found out how David had touched her and kissed her.

Michelle was sure she could feel blood or something dribbling a bit on her side and back. She was covered up again by the jacket and didn't want to draw attention to it by looking but she was pretty sure she must be bleeding. She didn't know what it was that he had pushed her up against on the wall but it must have cut her. She thought about how to handle the situation. She couldn't lie but she didn't want to tell anybody anything of what had happened.

They were all taken into one of the conference rooms. The first thing Ryan did was ask for someone from medical to be bought up to check them both out.

"No...no, I am ok. It is just a black eye. I don't want to see anyone."

At the same time Tony had responded no as well. He leant in a little closer to Michelle and spoke quietly. "What about your side? You were in pain when I touched you."

She turned away from him. "It's nothing. You just caught me off guard is all. Besides if you don't have to get checked out then neither should I."

Ryan stepped forward and looked at her eye. "Even if it is just a black eye Michelle, it looks nasty and it should be checked."

"NO! I am serious. Just let me be. I just want to do this and go home."

All the men looked at each other a little surprised at how assertive and forceful she was being about not getting checked out. She was clearly very upset and exhausted. No one wanted to push her.

"Alright, do you need some water or anything then Michelle? Something for the pain?"

She nodded her head. "Yes please."

Tony sat next to Michelle as they all started the debrief. Michelle was really quiet and let Tony fill them in on everything he had seen. When it got to her turn she just blurted out as much as she could remember as quickly as possible. Ryan kept trying to go back and ask for more information or more details but she was really struggling. Every question it took her awhile to answer and she was getting more and more frustrated. Ryan put it down to exhaustion but Tony thought there was a lot more to it. She was not herself at all and even though he knew she was tired and had a big shock with had happened, he knew there was more to what she was saying.

When it came to what happened in the bathroom, Michelle tried to skip everything and just say that it came down to him offering her the money to go to this lunch. She made it very clear to them that he was paying her because he expected sex afterwards. No one knew how to respond, on one hand she had just been handed a golden opportunity. A lunch at David's house was huge! They couldn't believe they now knew where he lived and could have an agent in there under cover. On the other hand, considering what it would possibly mean for Michelle to go was terrifying. When Ryan tried for the 3rd time to get Michelle to explain how he had hit her and what had happened then, she continually stumbled on her words and closed up.

Michelle lifted her head and could see how frustrated they all were. She just couldn't do this now. "Ryan, I am so tired I can't think straight. I've told you the important things, can we please leave the rest for tomorrow?"

"Ahhh..."

Tony stood up, "Yes, I agree. Enough is enough. We have what we need for right now. Michelle needs a chance to rest and recover from all this. There is no reason we can't do this later."

Ryan nodded his head. "Ok, fair enough. Why don't you go home Michelle and get some sleep?" He looked at his watch and it was after 6am. "We will be in touch with you tonight."

"Thank you." She slowly stood up. Every time she moved pain radiated through her body. She thanked everyone and walked out the door.

Tony went to follow but Ryan pulled her back. "Tony, something is not adding up here."

"I know."

"What do you think it is?"

"I have a feeling she is a lot more hurt than she is telling. I don't know, I will check on her and let you know. I've never seen her like this before. I'm just warning you Ryan, she might not be fit to do this on Sunday and I think it is far too dangerous. You need to all start looking at a plan B."

"We will. Just work this out with Michelle and let me know how she is."

Tony led Michelle to his car. He watched as she walked and tried to climb in and he knew there was something else going on. Clearly she was in a huge amount of pain.

"Can you just drop me home Tony?"

He shook his head. "I want you to stay at my house. You were going to before..."

"But..."

"Not up for negotiation Michelle. If you want to be at home, then I will take you there but I am not leaving your side."

"You have to look after Jo..."

"Don't you worry about Jo right now. Please just come back to my place."

She nodded her head. Inside she was panicking. She had planned on going to the doctors to get checked, she knew something was wrong. She just didn't want to disappoint, upset or get Tony angry. How was she going to get around this now?

"I am so sorry he got to you in the bathrooms Michelle. I should have been in there to protect you..."

"It wasn't your fault Tony, you were attacked by 2 of his friends..."

He shook his head. "Not good enough, it should never have happened and you should never had to face him alone like that, I should have that coming." He was furious with himself for letting the situation get out of control like that. He felt like they should have been better prepared. He was also so angry that all of this went so wrong because he had placed his hand across her shoulders. He wondered if that was why she was being so quiet and guarded with him, was she angry at him for doing something so stupid?

Tony stopped and picked up some food and coffee for them and by the time they got home it was close to 7am. He expected to find his parents and sister asleep but they were sitting in the lounge room. They had been talking in the living room and both dozed off for awhile but woke when they heard Tony and Michelle coming home. They jumped up to greet them.

Shelley and Josh gasped when she saw that both of them had black eyes and were pale. "Oh my God, what has happened? Are you ok? What can I get you?"

"I'm ok, thank you though." Her voice was getting weaker and weaker.

Tony was getting more worried about Michelle with each passing minute. He wished like hell that he had told her how crazy in love with her he was, maybe then she would feel more comfortable opening up to him. He was trying to think of the best way to handle the situation. First things first, he needed to get her something comfortable to put on. He told Michelle he would go and grab her some sweats to put on. She followed him to his bedroom.

Josh watched Michelle try to turn and walk down the hall with Tony. He knew immediately that there was something seriously wrong. He caught up with her and gently used one hand on her forearm to stop her. "I'm a doctor Michelle. I can tell that there is something more than your eye wrong..."

"Really I am ok..." As she was saying the words she half stumbled and he had to catch her from falling to the ground.

He turned to Tony. "What the hell is going on? Why isn't Michelle at a hospital?"

Tony shook his head and stared at Michelle. "She won't go."

Michelle stared around the room at Tony and his whole family staring at her. This was almost worse than being at the CTU clinic. She started to panic as she tried to keep her thoughts rational and figure out what to do.

After a minute of all of them staring at each other, Josh knew that there was obviously so much more to this situation then he could see. Michelle was behaving like a million other patients he had seen that had been assaulted or beaten and Tony was clearly getting more and more worked up with each passing second.

Tony tried another tactic. "Ok, Chelle, how about we get you into something more comfortable and then will you at least let Dad look at your eye and we can take it from there?"

Michelle nodded her head slightly. Tony put his arms around her and helped her down the hall to his room. He pulled out some track pants, a t-shirt and sweatshirt for her to put on. She was standing there looking completely unsure of what to do. She had tears in her eyes she was in so much pain and she was a little hunched over. He walked over to her and reached for the bottom of the jacket to help her undo it. She caught his hands and stopped him. "No, no...It's ok I can manage."

He wondered what to do. He could completely tell this was not about taking the jacket off in front of him. "Let me just help you Chelle."

Michelle reached her hand up under the jacket and felt her stomach. Blood. Her fingers felt wet and now she couldn't even pull them back out without him seeing. She started to cry heavily. "I am so sorry."

Tony had never seen her so vulnerable and he was so confused, why the hell was she apologising? "What are you sorry for Chelle? Why are you sorry?"

"I didn't want to let you down and you got hurt for trying to stand up for me. You knew going in that I wasn't up to doing this and you were right..."

"Oh My God, you were amazing Chelle. You did everything right, it was us that let you down. It wasn't that I didn't think you were up to it, I just knew how tired you were and I thought it wasn't fair that you had to go do this when you should have been resting." He pulled her hand out, to hold it as he spoke to her. He felt he resist a little and he looked down. As he hand came out from under her jacket it was covered in blood.

"Holy Shit..."

"Sorry...I didn't know what to do..."

His heart was racing, there was a huge lump in his throat and he felt tears forming in his eyes. He couldn't believe she was this hurt and they hadn't known. That she clearly felt like she couldn't tell them. Had he let her down so much that she didn't even feel comfortable telling him she was hurt? He grabbed at the jacket and pulled down the zip. Terrified at what he was going to find. He slipped it off her shoulders.

The top she had on was black and it was hard to see anything other than the fact that it was wet with blood. He tried to speak softly and gently but he was going out of his mind and was desperate to see and know what was wrong. "Can you lift your arms up for me?"

She was so hesitant and he could tell she didn't know what to do. "What are you going to do? It's alright really. I'll just check it and..."

"Michelle, I am kicking myself for not forcing you to see the doctor at the office, even when I knew something was up. You are pale, you're bleeding, and you are unsteady on your feet. I need you to try and drop your guard and let me in so I can help you. I need to take your top off and see what has happened to you."

"What about you Tony? You were hurt as well, I saw them shoving you to the ground and kicking you..."

"I'm not the one bleeding Michelle..." He was going to continue but then decided that maybe if he removed his top and showed her that he was ok she would feel more comfortable and do the same. "Ok, I will show you that I am alright but then you need to do the same." He pulled his top off over his head.

Michelle slowly stepped around him, as though she was inspecting him. When she got to his back she saw a huge bruise, the size of a foot on his lower back. It was swollen, a nasty red and already turning a very dark black. It shocked her and she burst into tears. She knew he was only hurt because he had tried to look out for her.

Tony was shocked when he saw her burst into tears. He had no idea of the size of the bruise on his back. He tried to calm her down. "Hey, it's just a bruise, it will go away. I'm fine."

She shouted at him, "YOU'RE NOT FINE! Look at what he did to you! All because you were trying to look out for me."

He couldn't believe how upset she was over seeing this bruise on him. Considering she was clearly in a lot worse state than he was, he didn't understand why this was upsetting her so much. "It was my fault we even got in that position Michelle. If I hadn't had my arm around you then Sam wouldn't have got so pissed in the first place."

They stood there again in silence for a few moments. He was so frustrated that was every passing second she could be getting worse and worse and wasn't getting the help she might need. The tension between them was unbelievable and he knew she was vulnerable and so angry at him that he would be the last person she would want helping her but he couldn't stand it and longer. He stood in front of her, "Sweetheart, you I've shown you where I have been hurt, now I need to see where you have been hurt."

He was getting angrier and angrier that he had missed this. She was in so much pain. God knows what that asshole had done to her. He knew she was nervous for him to remove her top but right now all that mattered was making sure she was ok.

"I'll look after you sweetheart." He gently pulled the top up to her bra line. He sighed and swore. "Fucking hell. Shit, shit shit!" He stared at a huge black bruise covering her whole side and wrapping around her back. He turned her body slightly and that's where he could see on her back just near her side was a deep and wide cut a few centimetres long. It most certainly needed stitches. He felt so sick to his stomach seeing Michelle hurt. How the hell had she been putting up with the pain this must be causing her? "What happened?"

"We don't have to talk about it, I don't want you..."

"We need to talk about it and now. What did that monster do to you?"

"I'm sorry Tony."

He couldn't take his eyes off her. "STOP SAYING YOU'RE SORRY! I can't handle this..."

"See I told you, I don't want you to have to..."

"NO, I don't mean it like that. I mean I can't handle you shutting me out. I can't handle that you are so hurt and you couldn't tell me. That you must be so uncomfortable and disappointed in me that you couldn't tell me."

Michelle pulled back a little away from him. Just that move cause such pain that she let out a sob and slumped against the wall. Tony had had enough, this was going to go back and forth forever and at this moment, nothing was more important than knowing how badly she was hurt and getting her help. His voice became assertive and strong. "Either I call an ambulance right now or you let my Dad and I try and help you."

She didn't even have a chance to respond. When Tony could see she was hesitating over what to say he ended up shouting for his Dad to come in. Josh appeared at the doorway in seconds. Josh saw the blood on them and the way Michelle was hunched to the point of barely being able to stand. He kicked into doctor mode immediately. "Tony, help me get Michelle onto the bed." He turned and shouted down the hallway for Shelley to run and get his medical kit from the car.

Before she even knew what was happening Tony had lifted her up and carried her over to the bed. She tried to roll herself a little to the side to take the pressure off the wound but even that was difficult. She felt Tony's dad's hand land on the bottom of her back and support her into a more comfortable position.

The bruising went up to her bra which Tony could see was ripped. In the back of his mind he knew Michelle would be feeling completely vulnerable and exposed but there wasn't any way of avoiding that right now. He leaned over her and held her chin with his hand so she would look at him. "Sweetheart, I know you feel vulnerable and exposed but you need help immediately. If this was me, I know you would be doing everything you could to make sure I was ok. So I need you to take a chance on me, trust me to help you. Dad's a surgeon, if you are not going to let me take you to a hospital then you have to let him help you."

Whilst Tony was talking to her, Josh had grabbed a towel and pressed it against her wound making her wail in pain. Tony held the back of her head and pulled her in close. "I know it hurts, sorry, I am so sorry. Please talk to me. You have to start talking to me."

Michelle knew she had to tell Tony. "He smashed me up against the wall and pinned me against it with his body, there must have been something on the wall because I could feel something jab into me then."

He pulled his head back a little so he could look into her eyes. "I can't believe he did that, I'll fucking kill him. What about the bruise though sweetheart? You are black and blue all up your side."

She took a deep breath. "When I was on the ground he kicked me."

There was a knock on his bedroom door. Josh had Tony take over holding the towel against her wound as he went to the door and grabbed his medical kit from Shelley. As he made his way back to the bed, "We need to get Michelle's top off, I need to see exactly what I am dealing with..."

Tony could see Michelle's eye's bludge open wide. He felt so sorry for her to be in this position but he was so confused over why there was so much hesitation on her behalf to let them help her. He put it down to her feeling completely let down and disappointed in him for this happening to her. That made him feel sick to his stomach.

His Dad's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Was Michelle given anything for pain?"

"Some tablets at CTU but nothing strong."

Josh sat on the bed next to Michelle. "Ok, I am going to give you something Michelle that will help with the pain and maybe relax you a little. Is that ok?"

"Yes, thank you Mr. Almeida..."

"Josh, please call me Josh."

He gave Michelle an injection into her stomach as Tony held her still. The doctor in Josh wanted to be asking a million questions. He thought Michelle needed to be in hospital, he decided that once he had checked her properly, if this wasn't something that could be handled here he would insist that she be taken in.

Michelle turned to Tony. "This can't be happening. You should have just let me go home, now I have upset everyone and it's not even that bad..."

"Don't even go there Chelle. I am this close to carting you off to the hospital..." As he was saying it he realised that he still didn't know if she had any other injuries. Also by the look of the bruise on her side there was a good chance she had a broken or cracked rib. "Actually, maybe I should be taking you to the hospital. Or we can go back to CTU medical."

"No, I don't want to go there."

"What if your rib is broken?"

"It just looks worse than it is."

Tony hated that she was pushing him away. He would give anything to be holding her, doing anything to look after her and yet it felt like she just wouldn't drop her guard and let him, he couldn't figure out why. "What's going on here Chelle?"

"What do you mean?"

"You are totally trying to block me out! I thought something was finally happening between us and yet now I feel like I couldn't have got it more wrong."

"It's not like that..."

Josh interrupted them. He tried to speak in a soothing tone seeing as they were both getting so worked up. "Why are you so scared of getting help Michelle? Why are you pushing us away?"

A few tears ran down her cheeks. Before she had a chance to answer Tony spoke up. "Because she is angry with me for letting her down. It was my fault this happened and I didn't protect you from that prick."

"He had 2 men beat the hell out of you Tony, you couldn't do anymore than you did. I am the one to blame for what happened, not you, not anyone else."

Josh was shocked. He was so proud of Tony for what he did with his career but on the other hand he hated it. Not a day went past that he and his wife didn't worry about something happening to him. After everything that had happened with Nina, Tony had withdrawn from everyone. Michelle seemed to be the only one that had gotten him through the last year and Josh would always be grateful for that. Hearing them both go back and forth like this made him realise how little he knew of the dangerous situation they had both clearly just been in. Obviously whatever had happened had been extremely traumatic and they were struggling to know how to process it.

Tony's voice raised again. "Bullshit! That is bullshit and you know it. I blew the whole thing by putting my arm across your shoulders..."

"He would have done the same thing to me Tony whether you did that or not!"

"And what did he do Michelle?"

Michelle's voice was raised which surprised him. "I can't tell you Tony! Don't you get that? If I could, I would but I know what is going to happen if I do!"

He raised his voice to match hers, "What's going to happen?"

"You will leave! You won't want anything to do with..."

"How could you think that? How could anything that that fucker did to you make me want to leave? Try me Chelle? For once, just drop your fucking guard and give me a go..."

She felt angry now. Angry at him and even angrier at herself, so she yelled at him. "He touched me Tony! He shoved his fucking tongue down my throat. He thought I was a useless hooker, that I was absolute scum and that's how he treated me."

Tony was shocked. He felt speechless. He wanted to kill David for touching her.

"See Tony...I told you I could handle it and yet I couldn't. I am supposed to be a trained agent that can defend myself and yet I couldn't. He beat the shit out of me and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. I couldn't get him off me, I didn't know what to say or what to do. The only fucking thing I got right was not blowing my cover. I get why you wouldn't want to have anything to do with me, I can't even look at myself right now I am so disappointed with myself."

"Oh My God Chelle..."

She shook her head and tried to start moving, "No, I'm just going to go."

Josh held her down as did Tony. "You're not going anywhere." She struggled a little but he just held on tighter telling her 'no'. When she calmed down a little he spoke, "You need to listen and hear everything I say. You mean more to me then you will ever understand. I am so sorry this happened to you but it doesn't change how I feel about you, if anything I love you even more. I'm scared to death right now Chelle just thinking about what you have been through, that I might lose you. David is huge guy baby, he would kick my ass. You can't be disappointed with yourself for what he did. You are an incredible agent. And you did handle it, better than most people would. You got through it. Please God, Chelle...don't leave me, don't shut me out. I need you."

Her voice was just above a whisper. "Did you say you love me?"

He turned her around gently so he could look into her eyes. "I am so in love with you Chelle I can barely think straight. You are everything to me. I should have told you sooner. If I had, maybe you would have felt more comfortable to come to me, open up to me, let me help you...instead I have made you feel like you are alone. "

"I love you Tony. I have for a long time. That's why I can't handle you even thinking about what happened."

It took him a moment to catch his breath. Her words had made his heart flutter and stopped him dead in his tracks. He hadn't expected her to say that, especially not now, not after what she had been through. He snapped back to reality when he felt blood run down his hand that was resting on her waist. He looked at his hand and then back up into her eyes. He leant forward and kissed her very briefly on the lips before finally speaking, "You have no idea how long I have wanted to hear you say that. But sweetheart, for now, I need you to trust me...trust me to look after you. We can get through anything but what I can't handle is seeing you like this."

She didn't even have time to respond before he began to slip her top off. He didn't even ask her this time when along with his Dad's help he sat her body up just enough to pull the shirt off. He could see hesitation in her eyes. Josh used one hand to hold the towel against the wound and the other to begin checking the bruising. He could see how uncomfortable Michelle was and he did his best to try and soothe her. "I know you are nervous and uncomfortable at the moment Michelle but there is nothing more important than getting you better. All Tony and I want is to help you. I deal with this type of thing every day and for now I want you to try and forget that I am Tony's Dad and just think of me as a doctor and that Tony loves you and will do anything to see you better. Do you think we can give this a try? If not, I am not going to have a choice, I will have to call an ambulance and have you taken into the hospital."

Michelle nodded her head. She felt so exposed and uncomfortable but the pain was worse than any emotion she was feeling right now. She kept her eyes on Tony, watching his every move. She finally nodded her head. Josh sighed in relief and Tony thanked her. Things had gotten so heated Tony knew he had to try and get the situation back under control.

Josh had Tony take over holding the towel on her wound so he could sort out what he needed from his medical kit. He knew that they were going to have to remove more of her clothes and was uncertain of how to handle the situation. Michelle was already so on edge and he could appreciate how exposed and uncomfortable she must be feeling. He gave her a little more pain relief in the hope of calming her down. He watched as his son stared at her adoringly and it was a good feeling to see his son so open about his feelings for her. He hadn't seen Tony express so much emotion in years.

He tried to word it as carefully and sensitively as he could when he explained to them both that they need to remove her bra, he promised Michelle he would keep her as covered as possible. He could see tears in her eyes as soon as he said it. He started to rethink the situation. He was too close to Tony and already cared for this young woman so much that it made his job of trying to be just a doctor right now close to impossible.

He asked Tony for a quick word. Tony kissed her on the forehead and then went over to his Dad on the other side of the room. "I'm not sure about this Tony. She is in pretty bad shape and she needs a full examination. Do you have any idea of the extent of how bad this is?"

"No, only what you have seen so far. Can you maybe give me a couple minutes with her and I'll see if I can get her to calm down a bit or at least make her more comfortable?"

"Ok, but not too long, we need to stop that bleeding."

Josh slipped out of the room and Tony made his way back over to Michelle. She looked confused. "Where did your dad go? Did I do something?"

He stroked her cheek. "You didn't do anything baby, he is just very aware of how hard this must be on you. We thought that maybe at first you would be a little more comfortable for me to do a quick check of you first?"

She nodded her head. He asked if she was able to use her hand to hold the towel to her side whilst he looked her over. She did as he asked. He was gentle with her as he ran his fingers over her bruising, especially over her ribs. They were swollen and he became more convinced that they could be broken.

Michelle had closed her eyes by this point, half trying to stop the flow of tears and half so she didn't have to face the look on his face. She felt him unclip her bra from the front and she held her breath as he pushed it to the side. She heard him sigh and it made her stomach flip. For the past year she had fantasized about being intimate with Tony. What it would be like to have his hands run all over her but right now all she could think was that he would be turned off at the sight of her. She kept her eyes shut tightly and tried to block it all out.

After a few minutes of feeling his hand run down her stomach she felt him undo her buckle. It took a moment for Michelle to register what Tony was doing and she reacted too late putting her hand out as she could feel her pants being pulled down a little, "No Tony, you can't..."

He stopped at her words but not because she had spoken but because he saw why she was trying to stop him. Her underwear was torn on the side and she knew the bruising went down her hip. Tony felt like he was going to vomit. He felt rage build up inside of him to the point he was going to explode. "That's it, we are going to the emergency room."

"No, I don't want to, I don't need to."

Tony leant over Michelle. He asked her to look at him. She turned her head back from the side, opened her eyes and looked back up at him. "Chelle...sweetheart, I need you to tell me how far he got, what he did to you."

She shook her head. She could see he was on the edge of losing it. She had never felt so vulnerable in her life. Just thinking about what had happened was enough, having to speak the words out loud to Tony was more than she could face. "He didn't get anywhere Tony..."

"Your underwear is ripped. You have a deep bruise that I still can't see the end of...don't tell me he didn't get anywhere baby. I know you are in hell right now Chelle but I can't and I won't ignore this."

"But there isn't anything to tell."

Tony half stood up and went to slide his hands under her. "What are you doing Tony?" Her voice reeked of panic.

"If you won't talk to me then I have to take you to the hospital."

Michelle couldn't believe it. She struggled against him. "Why are you doing this? I don't want to go!"

He sighed and stopped. His voice was raised. "Because I am scared to death. I have no idea what he has done to you and..."

"He tried Tony, he grabbed me but that's it...I promise!"

They stared at each other for a moment as Tony thought. He took a huge breath and tried to speak as gently as possible. Did he take your underwear off or put his hands inside them?"

Tears ran heavily down her cheeks and he wiped them away. "Chelle, I love you so much. You can tell me anything. Nothing will change how I feel, I promise you. I just want you to be ok...I just want you to get the care you need."

"He grabbed me there Tony and I know he pulled at them but he didn't get them off...I swear."

They went back into a stare off as he tried to figure out if she was telling him the truth or not. She choked on her tears a little. "I can't believe...I can't believe this is how you are seeing me for the first time, I can't believe this is happening."

Her words made Tony stop for a moment. He had been so wrapped up in trying to find out what was wrong with her that he hadn't even thought about this side of things. Instinctively it made him actually stop and stare at her. He had Michelle, the woman he had been falling in love with for the last year lying on his bed half naked. He could see past the wound and bruises and she was the most stunning woman in the world. Of course this was the last way he ever imagined seeing her like this for the first time would be.

He cupped her face with his hand. "Do you know how beautiful you are?"

That just made more tears roll down her cheek. "Tony..."

"No, I mean it, you are the most stunning woman in the world. I am so sorry it is happening like this sweetheart. Trust me, this is not how I imagined it would ever be. I already look straight past the bruises and see you and how gorgeous you are. You are even more incredible than I ever dreamed. But you have to remember that they will heal."

He could tell he was getting through to her a little and so he kept going. "Remember before all this when we were about to go to bed and I was finally getting to kiss you properly?"

"Yeah..."

"I don't think I had ever been more turned on in my life Chelle and I had barely even got started with you."

That made her smile a little. "What would have happened?"

Seeing her smile a little made his heart pound so fast he thought it would burst out of his chest. They had never had a conversation like this before and it was hard to believe it was finally happening after all this time. He decided to go for it. If there was ever a time he had to try and put aside his nerves and go for it, it was now. "Well I would have continued kissing you all over, from your mouth across to your neck and ears...like this..." He ever so gently kissed her neck and nibbled on her ear for a moment. "Then I would have probably gotten too flustered trying to undo all the buttons on your shirt and just ripped it over your head." He could see her blush and smile a little and he loved it. "I would have pushed you down and crawled on top of you where I could push every part of my body into yours, so we were as close as possible as I removed your bra and began to kiss and explore every inch of you..."

"That's how I pictured it too Tony. Your hands feel amazing and..." She stopped herself. She was aware the drugs had made her drop her guard and she wasn't sure how much to say. She did know he was calming her down and making her feel a lot more comfortable.

His voice went all high pitched and his tone sounded shocked that she had thought all these things to. "Really?"

"Really..."

Aware that he probably only had about another minute before his Dad would want to come in he raised his hand and rested it just below her neck. "Look at me sweetheart."

When she was looking him in the eyes, he ever so gently ran his hand down to her breast and cupped it before lowering his head and kissing his way down her neck, over her breast and down her stomach. He could feel and see her stomach rising up and down and her body flinching to his touch a little. If he wasn't careful he wasn't going to be able to stop and he was already way too turned on. He lifted his head and rested his chin on her stomach. "As soon as you are well enough baby, you had better watch out because I won't be able to keep my hands off you."

She smiled but then at the same time he saw her wince in pain. He lifted his head. "Will you let us look after you baby so you can get better and I can finally hold you the way I have wanted to since the day we met? I know you feel exposed but you need to keep telling yourself that to me you are the most beautiful person in the world and my dad is in complete doctor mode, he wouldn't be thinking twice about any of this other than trying to make sure you are ok?"

"Thank you Tony, I'll try."

He nodded his head. "I know I already asked you but I need to know for sure because it is killing me, what did he do to you? How far did he get?"

"I swear Tony, he pulled at my underwear and grabbed me but that is it. It was only for a second before I was on the ground and he kicked me. He didn't do what you are worried about, I promise."

"Thank god. I love you. Let's get you better. Can I let my Dab back in?"

She nodded her head. "Thanks Tony, thank you."

**Thanks for reading. Please review. thank you:)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for reading. I hope you like this. I don't own 24. Adults only!**

Josh was relieved when he entered the room again that it looked like they had both calmed down a little. Tony had covered her up as much as possible so that just the wound was showing.

"How are you feeling Michelle?"

"Really sore on my side and a bit hazy."

"That's the injection I gave you. At anytime through this if the pain becomes too much you need to stop me and let me know, I want to keep you as comfortable as possible, ok?"

She nodded her head. "Thanks Josh. Thank you for looking after me."

He spoke as he had Tony help roll her on her side a little so he could begin cleaning the area and giving her local anaesthetic. "Do you mind if I ask what happened tonight?"

Tony was surprised when Michelle spoke up first. "We have been trying to track this man David for months and months now. He was spotted at this bar and I had to go in undercover and try and get him to talk to me...or get as much information out of him as soon as possible. I got talking to him straight away but he assumed; or maybe it is how he treats all women that I was a hooker or something and so he was just vulgar in the way he spoke to me. I was trying to pretend like I want to get to know someone a little better before anything happens but he wasn't too interested in talking."

"But how did it get so out of control in a public bar?"

Tony took this one. "Chelle excused herself to go to the bathroom and I followed her so we could touch base. David had said he wants Michelle to accompany him to a lunch on Sunday and Chelle was trying to check with me if there was anything else she should be asking before he left. As we were in the hallway I slipped my arm around Chelle's shoulder and David happened to come around the hall right at that time and he just lost it." Tony picked up Michelle's hand. "I am so sorry, that was really stupid of me to do. I really fucked it up..."

"No you didn't Tony! Please don't talk like that. You were trying to comfort me because I was feeling so violated."

Tony shook his head, he didn't think he would ever forgive himself for being the reason why everything turned so nasty. "Anyways, we tried to make out that we were old friends that had just bumped into each other but he is a psycho and had 2 of his friends start punching me whilst he dragged Michelle into the bathrooms."

Josh could feel the biggest lump in his throat as he imagined what they were describing. "I am so sorry. How you both do this, I'll never know." He lowered his voice a little. "Is that when he assaulted you Michelle? In the bathroom?"

Tony wiped the tears from her cheeks as she spoke. He was happy she was finally dropping her guard and talking. His Dad always had a way of making people feel comfortable around him. However what she said next upset him beyond belief.

"Yeah. I had just completed my 3rd defence course with CTU for this type of scenario...along with all my other training. I should have been able to defend myself. I was so scared of blowing my cover but on the other hand I didn't know how far I was prepared to let this continue. He rammed me against the wall which is when I got this cut and from there I just turned to jelly. He was screaming at me and telling me what he expected whilst he was hurting me and I just took it..."

Tony couldn't let her continue, "Baby, you had no choice, the guy was twice my size, you were amazing..."

"No I wasn't Tony. I'm sure CTU wonders what the hell the point of putting me through all those training courses was for when I screwed it up so badly. I am disappointed in myself and I am embarrassed for Chappelle or any of them to know what happened in that bathroom. It's not good enough. Other than blowing my cover, everything else I did was wrong and weak..."

"STOP IT! I won't have you speak about yourself like this. Everyone is going to think how incredible and brave you were. Do you think less of me for getting punched by those other assholes?"

"No but that's different..."

Josh couldn't afford for Michelle to get to upset so he stopped them. "Hey hey...it sounds like you were both in an impossible situation. You should be proud of yourselves. Do you mind me asking though Michelle why you wouldn't go to the hospital and tried to hide how seriously hurt you were?"

Michelle looked at Tony and then back up at Josh. "Am I stoned?"

The both smiled a little, "Yeah, you have had some pretty strong stuff..."

"I don't know what I should be saying or not, I can't think straight."

"Maybe that's a good thing Michelle, maybe you need help in having your guard let down so you can talk and tell us how you are really feeling."

"But you won't tell anyone right?"

Tony took her hand and squeezed it. "Nothing leaves this room sweetheart."

"Josh I felt ashamed of myself and embarrassed. I know everyone at CTU and I can't imagine them seeing me like this or even picturing what happened to me. It's one thing to have a black eye but it's a completely different story for my colleagues to see me like this." She took a huge breath. "And I knew how angry Tony was. He knew I wasn't up to going on the mission. He warned me and did everything he could to stop me from going in but I went anyway and look what happened. I thought you wouldn't want anything to do with me after you knew how he had touched me and kissed me. I can't...I can't..." She couldn't get anymore out before she really burst into tears and started sobbing.

Tony literally felt ill to his stomach. He stroked the side of her head, "If only I had been man enough to tell you how I really feel about you before all this happened then you might have felt more comfortable talking to me. Then you would have known I don't care about anything other than you being ok. Nothing he could have done would change the way I feel about you. And I am sorry that I didn't think about the situation at CTU. I should have been more sensitive to the fact that you were sitting in a room full of men expecting you to have to talk about all this. I don't know what is wrong with me. I am so sorry..."

"It's not your fault Tony. It's the job. I'm expected to get results, I am supposed to be able to handle things like this without falling apart." Her voice began to rise as she became more and more frustrated, "NOW look at what has happened. Your poor family is having to deal with this when you all have enough stuff of your own to worry about. You asked me to help you with your sister tonight and you ended up getting dragged into all this. I am so sorry. I should have just gone home..."

Tony was hurting beyond belief. He didn't know how to respond yet, luckily his Dad did. "You are seriously hurt Michelle, you could never have just gone home and dealt with this on your own. I am so happy that you are letting me look after you. Trust me, I know how much you mean to Tony and I'll never be able to thank you enough for how much you have been a shining light in his life over the last year. Nina took something from my son...did you know the first time I saw Tony smile again after all of that was when he was telling me a story about you?"

Tony cringed at just even hearing her name and he could see Michelle's eyes open wide.

"I'll never be able to be live up to her you know..."

Tony sat up, rage filled his body. "WHAT? What the fuck do you mean by that?"

Josh tried to tell Tony to calm down but it was useless. He cursed at himself for bringing her up.

"You know exactly what I mean!"

Tony was dumbfounded. "No I don't know, I have no idea what the hell you mean. Why the hell would you even think about being able to live up to her? A murderer...a..."

"I don't mean that Tony, of course I don't mean what she did. Just forget it..."

"Like hell..."

As Josh began to stitch the cut, Michelle let out a sob in pain. This was turning into a disaster. She should be calm, not in the middle of what was turning into a huge argument. She still hadn't spoken and Tony pushed her again, "What the fuck do you mean?"

"I can't do this now, it's not fair, I can't think straight, I feel like I can't think properly about what I am meant to say..."

Tony's voice was booming, loud enough for the rest of the house to hear. "Well good as far as I am concerned because now maybe I'll get the truth."

Josh shot Tony a look to tell him to calm down. "That's not fair Tony."

"No what's not fair is that somehow in Michelle's mind she has got some twisted thoughts of comparison with Nina, like there is anything good in the woman that destroyed everything!"

Michelle tried to sit up but Josh had to gently hold her down. He spoke quietly to her, "You can't move Chelle."

Michelle felt so trapped and lost she didn't know what to do with herself. "People talk you know Tony. You know I have been told 3 times by 3 different people that you loved...before you all knew who she really was...how capable she was. That she was this incredible fucking super agent that was amazing in the field. That you loved that about her, that she was so strong and good at what she did. That's the kind of woman you want and yet here I am, the first time I have to go into the field with you as my boss and I fuck it all up and let you all down."

Her words literally pushed him over the edge. He had no idea that people had spoken to Michelle like that. He had no idea that she thought any of those things and every single thing was so completely wrong it made him furious. He kicked the bedside table and then slammed his hand into the wall, going straight through the plaster board. Josh had never seen his son like this and he immediately ran over to him and grabbed him to stop. He shouted at him to calm down and to stop and they actually struggled for a few moments.

Michelle got the fright of her life seeing him like that. She wasn't sure if she had hit the nail on the head and that's why Tony had responded like that or if in her stoned out state she had said something she wasn't aware of. She had only repeated what she had been told and admitted to something she had felt for a long time. They caught eye contact and all she could see was rage and she thought he looked angrier at her then he ever had been before. In fact, she had never seen him lose it like that. She had to leave or else she was only going to upset him even more. As Tony continually swore and their backs were turned as he tried to tell his dad he was ok, he would stop, she rolled her body off the bed and took a couple steps to reach for a top. She felt the cut tear in her movement and she howled in pain.

Both men turned at the sound of Michelle's almighty scream. Josh just about had a heart attack seeing her up off the bed and he saw that the stitch he had been halfway through had not only torn but the cut had widened. Tony saw it as well and they both rushed over to her. She put her hand out in front of her to stop them from coming any closer to her.

Josh put his hands up in the air. He could not believe what was happening. "Michelle, do not move another inch. That cut is tearing and...please god, Iisten to me, I need you back on that bed."

She shook her head no and tried to hold the top over her chest to cover herself. She felt trapped. She had no idea what she was going to do. She felt like she was in hell.

The sight of Michelle like that snapped Tony back to reality. "I'm sorry Chelle, I am so sorry I lost it like that and just scared the hell out of you. It is just that absolutely NONE of that is true...couldn't be further from the truth and I had no idea that anyone had ever spoken to you about Nina like that or that you thought any of those things. It makes me want to be sick finding out that you have thought all of that for all this time. We have a lot to talk about but first I am going to pick you up and put you back on the bed..."

"No...no, I'm scared, nothing is making sense and..."

Tony couldn't wait any longer, he thought she was going to pass out as her body stumbled so he walked straight to her and picked her up. He took her by surprise but she had absolutely no energy in her to fight him. She could hear him telling her how sorry he was and she could also hear Josh telling him what to do. As soon as she was on the bed, Josh knelt beside her and looked at the wound. It was a mess, it had really torn and he knew that the situation had just crossed the line and it would be completely irresponsible for him to even contemplate trying to treat this here. He pulled his cell out of his pocket.

"I'm sorry but I have to call an ambulance. No arguments, not a word. This is serious."

Michelle's heart dropped and she watched as tears rans down Tony's cheek. He looked so defeated. Neither one of them argued, they listened as Josh called in for an ambulance. When he hung up he showed Tony exactly how to hold the towel on the wound and how much pressure to apply as he went to tell Shelley and Jo what was going on and to make sure the hallway was clear for the ambulance officers to get the stretcher through. He also wanted to give Tony a minute alone with Michelle before everything kicked off. His heart sank for them. They were going through a hell that was unexplainable and he felt so incredibly sorry for them.

Tony put his mouth to her ear and spoke softly. "I am so so sorry Chelle. I think everything that has happened over the last couple days and all this just tipped me over the edge and I lost it. I...god...what can I do?"

"I'm scared Tony, really scared. I shouldn't have said anything..."

"Hey hey...we clearly have so much to talk about but before everyone gets here I need to tell you something and I need you to hear me. Please please hear and believe what I am telling you. I never loved Nina. Never. Yes I cared for her but it wasn't a healthy relationship and it was never going to go anywhere. I dislike so many things about her and our relationship before I found out who she really was. People at work don't know what the hell they are talking about but they know nothing. You are the best at what you do, CTU would be a mess without you and I have never trusted anyone in my life more than I do you. You are the most capable, incredible agent I know and I admire you. I look up to you and I learn from you every day. My feelings for you are so real, I now know that I never knew what love really was until I met you. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Please, I know that I just really lost it, I hate myself for how I just responded to all that and now what it has done to you but please don't shut me out." He started to cry heavily and she could feel his tears landing on her neck. "Please don't hate me, please give me another chance...please, I love you so much."

His words made her sob. Even in this darkest moment, hearing Tony tell her all that made her feel like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. An expectation of spending all this time believing she had to be something more than she was had just been relieved for her. "I love you Tony. I could never hate you. I've never felt this way about anyone before."

He looked a little relieved but panic was still written all across his face. "What can I do sweetheart? What do you need right now?"

"Don't leave my side. I am so scared. I' m so confused and I don't feel like I can handle this. I am in so much pain. Can you help me cover up a bit? I don't want to be completely exposed in front of everyone."

"I'm not going anywhere sweetheart, I promise I won't leave your side and I'll help you get through this." He reached for a t-shirt with his other hand. He wasn't able to get it on her though without using his other hand. "I need Dad's help to get this on you baby, is that ok? He has already seen and..."

She nodded her head and he called for his Dad. When Josh came back in the room he was relieved to see them so close. "Dad, can you help me pull this top on Chelle so she isn't so exposed to everyone going out there?"

"Of course." Together they both helped Michelle get her arms through the sleeves and over her head. She cried in pain as they moved her and they both continued to say they were sorry. Michelle asked for more pain relief but Josh said he now had to wait for the ambulance officers but that they would be here any second.

"Can Tony come in the ambulance with me?"

"Yes for sure and Shelley, Jo and I will follow you in the car. We will be right behind you. I am having you taken to my hospital Michelle where my most trusted colleague is going to look after you."

"Did I just undo everything you had done? Is it really bad?"

Josh had to be honest with Michelle. "What happened was not your fault. It was unfortunate and the whole situation was completely out of control. I should have put my foot down and taken you to the hospital right at the start. I just didn't realise how much pain you were both in, what you had been through and emotionally how complex everything is for you both right now. I think they will put you under a general anaesthetic Michelle to fix that wound and x-ray your ribs."

She nodded her head and thanked him. He leant down and kissed her on the forehead. "I promise you, things will only get better form here and we are all here to look after you."

They all heard the ambulance arrive and Shelley directing them down the hall to the bedroom. Tony and Michelle just stared and watched each other. They were both in shock over what had just happened and was happening. There was so much to say yet they didn't even know where to start. Tony had never felt so raw in his life. He was stunned at his reaction to everything, stunned at what people had been saying about him, stunned at how Michelle had been thinking something so completely wrong about him for so long, stunned that it had all been exposed the way it had, stunned that the woman he loved was in so much pain and injured and still completely stunned that they had finally confessed their love for one another. All of that added onto the 24 hours they had just survived at work and he wondered how he was still functioning.

He held Michelle's hand as they gave her a green stick to inhale for the pain whilst they loaded her onto the stretcher. She went completely quiet and let and Tony and Josh answer all the questions, before she knew it she was being loaded into the ambulance and they were on their way to the hospital. It was comforting that Tony made sure he was in her sight the entire time and every chance he could he took her hand in his or stroked her hair. She felt the drugs really kick in and she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, she felt herself begin to drift off to sleep.

**Thanks for reading, please review:)**


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own 24. Adults only. I hope you like.**

Everything happened so fast it was hard to keep up. Just like Josh had expected, Michelle was sedated and taken into surgery to have the cut fixed. It would be a quick procedure and Tony and his family waited in the room for her.

At one point when Shelley took Jo down to get them all some coffee, Josh sat down next to Tony, who had barely said a word since they had arrived.

"I'm sorry I bought up Nina Tony, I had absolutely no idea it would spark all that off."

"It's not your fault Dad, I'm the one that completely lost it. I just can't believe that Michelle was told all that and that she has been feeling this way for god knows how long."

"In a way then, maybe it is good it came out and you have a chance to clear it up with her."

Tony rubbed at the side of his face and sighed. "I know I never talk to you and mom about work anymore Dad but you wouldn't believe what we have been through the past couple days. Michelle and I were smack bang in the middle of it and I was hoping to be the one to help her get through all of that but then all this happens. I fucking hate CTU, all it does is hurt people."

Josh put his hand on Tony's arm. "I know it feels that way now but think of all of the good you all do. What a disaster our country would be in if it wasn't for people like you and Michelle. And you will help her get through it, she loves you so much Tony, that much is very clear."

They spoke for a few more minutes before Tony called Ryan Chappelle.

"Tony, did you check in with Michelle? Is she alright?"

"No Ryan, she was assaulted pretty bad in the bathroom. She is in surgery right now for a wound on her back."

"What? Why the hell did she keep that from us?"

"Because we sat her in a room full of men she works with every day and expected her to talk about what he had done to her. She also feels disappointed in herself because she thinks she should have been able to stand up for herself better..."

"That's ridiculous, David is huge, and nobody would have stood a chance against him..."

"Try telling that to Michelle."

"Well is she going to be ok? How serious is this?"

"I think she will be ok, some stitches and bruising. They will also do x-rays to make sure none of her ribs are broken. I wanted to let you know so you could start working on that plan B because there is no way Michelle is going in there again on Sunday."

"Let's see how she pulls up today. Tony, you wouldn't believe the chatter staff have been pulling up about this 'lunch'. Sounds like it is the meeting of all meetings..."

"I don't give a shit Ryan, just go in there and bust them, you have an address now. I am Michelle's director and I will not under any circumstances authorize her to go back in there with that man..."

"Tony, you know I am the one that calls the shots..."

Tony was losing his cool. "Ok then Ryan, you come down to the hospital and take one look at Michelle and what he has done to her, then tell me if you think she should be going back in!"

There was silence as Ryan realized how serious Tony was. He could hear in his voice how emotional he was and knew it wasn't the time to push anything. "Alright, alright. Is there anything else Michelle has said about him that we should know?"

"No, nothing..." As he was finishing his sentence, Michelle was wheeled back in. "I have to go Ryan, Michelle is out of surgery." He hung up without even waiting for a response.

Michelle slowly opened her eyes to see Tony staring down at her. His eyes were red and tired looking and his black eye was very swollen. He looked a mess but he was so most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. She was only able to enjoy a minute of happy bliss at having Tony next to her before memories of everything that had happened came flooding back into her mind. She wanted to ask if it had all been a nightmare but she already knew the answer.

"Hey you." His voice was husky and full of concern.

"Hey."

He leant down closer to her. "Everything went really well. You are all stitched up, no broken ribs and hopefully you will start to feel a lot better very quickly."

"That's great. Thank you for staying." She scanned the room to see the rest of his family was there as well. They were hanging back giving them space. "Wow, you all stayed? Thank you."

Tony squeezed her hand. "I promised you I wouldn't leave your side."

Shelley, Jo and Josh all made their way over to the bed and said hello. Michelle could see how tired they all looked. She thanked them again for being there.

Tony was about to tell Michelle that he had called her father, Jackson, when there was a knock on her door and a man slowly stepped inside.

"Dad!"

Jackson made his way over and gave Michelle a hug and a kiss on the forehead. "Are you ok honey? I got here as soon as I could."

"I'm fine, thank you for coming in Dad especially when you are so busy..."

He kissed her again, "Hey, I'm never too busy for my little girl."

"Dad, I want you to meet Tony Almeida and his family..."

Tony stuck his hand out straight away and shook hands with Jackson before introducing him to his parents and Jo.

"Finally I get to meet the famous Tony Almeida!" Jackson said it with a cheeky grin as he looked back at his daughter who was now blushing.

"Dad!"

They all laughed. Jackson shook Tony's hand again, "Seriously, it is very nice to meet you, although I wish it was under better circumstances. Thank you for calling me Tony."

"I'm so happy to meet you to. I knew you would want to be here and that Chelle would want to see you."

For the next half an hour they all chatted non-stop. Jackson got along with Tony's family very well, anyone would have thought they had been friends for years. Jackson was a financial advisor and it wasn't long before he and Josh were organizing to meet up for a round of golf together. Tony was loving this although he was worried about Michelle. After the introductions, she had barely spoken a word.

Eventually Tony's family said they would head off and get some sleep. They promised to be back to visit Michelle later in the day. Just before Josh walked out the door Michelle called him back. He came back over to the side of the bed. "Ummm, I just wanted to thank you for everything that you did. I'm sorry I was such a mess and that you had to..."

He cut her off, "Chelle, you are a very brave young woman. I am so sorry for what you have just been through and I'll be here to keep helping you and Tony through it. It got pretty scary there for awhile but you hung in there and did great. All want is for you both to be ok and happy."

Michelle smiled and thanked him again. Jackson walked Josh back to the door and stepped out with him. When they were out in the hallway, "Tony was only able to fill me in a little on what happened but it sounds like you are the reason Michelle is ok. How bad is this wound or cut on her back?"

Josh sighed, "Now that it has been closed properly it should be fine. You do know though that Michelle sustained some very serious bruising as well...?"

Jackson shook his head. "I don't know anything, other than she was hurt whilst undercover. I just know what Michelle can be like...very good at putting on a brave face..."

"Tell me about it! She should have gone straight to hospital but at first she didn't even want anyone to know how badly she had been hurt."

"Why?"

"Ummm..."

"I don't mean to put you on the spot and I don't want to keep you from your family, I just..." Jackson paused as he tried to find the right words. "I guess I'm just trying to understand what my daughter been through so I know how to help her."

"Jackson, this is the last thing a man ever wants to have to tell a daughters father but you do need to know the truth. Maybe together we can work on helping Michelle and Tony because from what I have seen last night, they are going through more than most do in a lifetime. Michelle was assaulted by some guy CTU has been trying to track down for a long time..."

"Clearly he beat her but did he touch her?"

Josh could see the same look of sadness washing over Jackson's face that he had seen on Tony's all night and felt himself. "Yes, however Michelle assures us he didn't get very far at all. It was more about this man threatening her and hitting her. I'm sorry, I don't know how else to even be saying this to you..."

Jackson's fists were clenched and he felt sick but he was trying to remain calm. "I appreciate you telling me, thank you."

Josh leaned in closer, "Maybe after you have had a chance to talk to Tony and Michelle properly you want to give me a call and we can go over a few things? I think those two are going to need some support at the moment."

"Sounds good, I'd like that."

The 2 men traded numbers and said goodbye. Jackson headed back into the room. Tony was sitting on one side of the bed holding Michelle's hand and so he pulled up a chair on the other side. He tried to lighten things up a little. "So does this mean you two have finally gotten your act together?" He smiled whilst motioning towards their hands clasped together.

Tony looked nervously at Michelle. His voice was quiet and full of nerves. "If Chelle is still willing to give me a chance after everything..."

"Tony? What are you unsure?"

He looked back up at her. "NO! Not at all, that's not even close to what I was getting at. I'm hoping you are still willing to give me a chance."

Jackson had said that thinking it would make them both smile, he couldn't believe how lost they both seemed to be. "Hey, hey...I didn't mean to upset either of you. I thought...I guess I assumed that..." He didn't know how to word it.

Tony surprised them both. "I am in love with your daughter. I've never felt like this about anyone in my life, she makes me happier than I thought it was possible to be. I just feel like I let you down so much last night baby that I have been sitting here praying for the past couple hours that you would still want me..."

"Tony, I love you. I need you."

Finally a smile washed across his face. He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. Then he looked at Jackson, "Then to answer your question, yes...we finally got our act together!" They all laughed a little.

Jackson brushed some hair out of Michelle's eye. "Good. What happened sweetheart? You both have black eyes, it sounds like you have been through hell."

Michelle looked at her Dad and started to cry. He immediately stood over her and wiped the tears. "I don't want to upset you. You're my little girl, I need to know what you have been through."

Michelle knew she wouldn't be able to tell her Dad without sobbing. "Can you explain Tony?"

Jackson sat back down but still wiped away a few tears. Tony went back to the beginning, explaining briefly how involved they were with everything Jackson would have heard on the news the last couple days. He kept that as short as he could. Then he explained how Michelle had helped him out with his sister before moving onto the mission and what had happened.

When he got to the part in the bathroom, he fumbled over his words and didn't really know what to say, or at least how to word what David had done to his daughter. He started tearing up himself and began to apologize to Jackson for not protecting Michelle and just about everything else.

Michelle couldn't believe it. Tony's version of events was all over the place and she had lost count now of how many times he had said he was sorry and that he would never let anyone near her again. Jackson was confused and hated hearing Tony blaming himself like that when he knew damn well that Tony would have done anything and everything to do the right thing by his daughter.

Eventually Michelle almost yelled at Tony to stop, taking them both off guard. He looked at her, "What?"

"Why are you saying all this Tony? The situation was out of your control. What happened in the bathroom was up to me to handle as a trained agent. You are not responsible for my inability to handle it. Why are you saying all that?"

Tony just blurted it out. "I'm trying to explain to your dad how his daughter was sexually and physically assaulted under my command Michelle. Everything I have said is true. I'm saying it how it is...you think your dad is interested in a pile of excuses to why you are lying here in this position?"

Jackson put his hands up to stop them both. He was dumbfounded by the rawness of the situation. Devastated at what they had both been through and sick to his stomach even thinking about someone touching his daughter. "Hey...Tony, I'm sure you did everything you possibly could have to look after Michelle. I'm not looking for anyone to blame here, except the prick that did this to her. You can't take all of this on..."

"With all due respect sir, Michelle hid what David had done to her, I had to force it out of her to even tell me what he had done and I had to force her to even let me see her injuries. I am certainly to blame for Michelle not feeling comfortable enough to come..."

"I told you Tony! I was too humiliated at work in front of everyone else and I then got scared to tell you because I feel like I let you all down. You are the last person I wanted to have know that another man touched me. Why can't you understand that?"

Tony's voice rose but he tried to keep it down, he didn't want to completely lose it in front of her Dad. "I'm trying to Michelle. I am trying to understand. It hurts, it hurts so much knowing what you went through and that I was there and couldn't stop it and then seeing you..." He stood up and walked out the door before he lost it. He leaned his forehead against the wall. Tears streamed down his face. He couldn't believe it, he wasn't capable of keeping himself together in front of Jackson. He was humiliated and angry at himself.

Jackson stood and went out to Tony. He put a hand on his shoulder and made him turn around. "Don't do this to yourself Tony."

"I'm sorry. There are just so many things I would do differently, that I wish I had done. Michelle has come to mean more to me over the last year than anyone and I just want to protect her, I want to be the one that she feels like she can count on for anything..."

Tony had started to turn away again, embarrassed to be crying in front of Michelle's father but Jackson firmly used his hand on his shoulder to make him face him. "You know Tony, I think since the day Chelle started at CTU she has told me all about you. What an honourable man you are, how much you look after her, how brave you are. You have been her rock. I've known you were the right man for my daughter for a long time now simply by the way she speaks so highly of you. Even though we had never met, I actually have felt comfort in knowing that you are there for her. Do you know how hard it is for a Dad to think about his little girl going off to a job like CTU every day? And yet Chelle has told me a million stories about times you have been there for her, helped her, comforted her and that makes it easier for me. I already trust you with Michelle and have for a long time. What happened last night sounds like it was a horrible situation that got out of control but that's life sometimes isn't it? You can't always control everything. I know my daughter and she has had a tough life without a mom and it has made her very guarded and stubborn..."

Tony smirked a little and Jackson smiled, "Yeah?"

Tony looked at him, "Yeah, stubborn for sure!"

"You are a good man Tony."

"Thank you Jackson, you have no idea how much everything you have just said means to me..."

"Well I meant every word. Why don't you come back in and we will try this again?"

Tony followed Jackson back into the room. Michelle had moved her gown to the side so she could look at the bruising. It caught Jackson off guard to see how bad it was. He felt his eyes well up as he made his way over to her. As soon as she noticed them come back in she went to cover her stomach but her Dad took her hand and stopped her, "Can I see?"

Michelle removed her hand and let her Dad look. He gently trailed his finger up her side and silence overtook the room. Finally, "how far up does this go? What about the cut?"

Tony stood next to them and helped Michelle to slightly roll so her Dad could see her back. Jackson felt physical pain seeing his daughter like that. "I am so sorry honey. I could kill that monster."

"It looks worse than it is Dad."

Jackson shook his head and helped her to get comfortable again. "Chelle, I need you to talk to me. You said you wanted to hide this because you felt humiliated, that you feel like you have let people down. Who?"

"Don't worry Dad. I'm ok..."

Tony gave Jackson a look like 'see what I mean' and Jackson's eyes widened. He knew his daughter, she had been putting on a brave front in life since she was 12 when her mother left. This was not the type of situation he wanted her to brush off though or think she had to be brave over. She had to face it and learn how to lean on people. "I am worried and I need you to talk. So does Tony."

"What do you want to hear? I told you why I didn't want to say anything..."

"Because you thought Tony wouldn't want to know about another man touching you?"

Michelle could feel herself going red, she felt so uncomfortable. "Yeah..."

Tony took her hand. "I hate what he did to you Michelle but because I love you, it would never change how I feel about you."

"I thought you would be angry. I look disgusting. I can see it in both of your eyes when you just looked at me...and it's not just that, you told me I wasn't up to the mission and I wanted to show you I was but clearly I was wrong. You knew I couldn't handle it and all I did was show that I am not a strong field agent..."

"Because you were tired Michelle! That's it, not because you were not capable. And I knew what this guy is capable of. The whole mission was stupid from the start, I knew all he would want from you was sex and CTU made you walk straight into that. You should never have been put in that position. And baby, after everything he did, you still didn't blow your cover, do you know how amazing that is?"

She started to cry a little. "I was so close to blowing it Tony. 1 more minute and I would have. If he hadn't left when he did I would have caved."

Jackson took her hand. "CTU is lucky to have you. Ever since you were a little girl you never wanted to let anyone down. You always put on a brave face." He turned to Tony, "You know when Chelle was just 12 years old and her mother just walked out on us, I was sitting out on the deck crying. She got Danny ready for school, made him his lunch and walked him to the bus. Then she came back to me with a box of tissues and announced that everything would be ok. I'll never forget asking her if she wanted to take the day off school and I was going to stay home, you know what she said? 'We can't Dad, I have a maths test and we have to go to Danny's play this afternoon or else he will get more upset.' Here I was, barely able to string a sentence together and my 12 year old daughter is the one trying to keep us together."

Tony looked at her in admiration. "Wow..."

"I was sick of her hurting you Dad and you always taught me when I was scared the best thing I could do was put on a brave face until I wasn't scared anymore."

"Chelle, maybe I should have taught you to also learn how to lean on people, understand that it is ok to let your guard down and be scared. That being scared isn't being weak."

"Dad I do. Can't you understand why all of this was so hard for me to just come straight out with? Is it really that hard for you guys to get why I feel so freaked out about it all?"

Tony took her hand and squeezed it. "I do, I do. I just want to know that you are accepting what we are saying, believing it...because from the way you have been acting it feels like we are not getting through to you." He hoped he wasn't being too rough on her.

From the way her voice rose he knew he had been. She also started to squirm in the bed. "I'm so sorry that all this stuffs gets to me. God, doesn't it at least show you how much I care about you and what you think? That I don't want you to be turned off me. That I don't want you to think I am a useless agent..."

"Chelle of course..."

"No, damn Tony you know I took those extra training courses so I could be better in the field. Because I thought you wanted to be with someone that was a capable agent like Nina, not just a desk jockey all the time. I was trying to better myself, be a better agent. " She started to try and get up but Jackson kept his hands on her trying to make her stay in place. That made her more agitated and she yelled at Tony again. "Am I so wrong that it upsets me that the first time you saw me like that last night was when I look like this? You don't even get that!"

"Yes I do. God Chelle, I've spent a year dreaming about our first date. What it would be like to hold you properly for the first time what it would be like to..." He stopped himself from saying more because her Dad was in the room. "You don't think I wanted it to be perfect? Instead I watched you in agony. I learnt that you have spent the past year believing all that bullshit about Nina instead of the truth, which is all I ever wanted was someone like you!"

"Then why is all this coming down on me? I'm sorry I had it so wrong. I am sorry I hid that I was hurt. I'm sorry but you are not exactly accepting and hearing everything either Tony."

"Like what?"

"That last night wasn't your fault! That you did everything you could!"

Jackson stopped them. "Everything is going in cycles here. You both realize you are just going back and forth over the same thing. What is it you need to hear from each other other?"

Tony stood at the end of the bed. "I want to hear that from now on no matter what, Michelle won't ever try to protect me from anything because it might upset me. That she will come to me first and know that she can count on me to look after her and be there for her no matter what. That you know I love you for you and exactly who you are. I want to hear that you are mine Chelle and you are going to open up to me and give me a chance to be everything you need!"

Tears ran down her cheeks. She moved and it sent pain radiating through her body. She burst into tears. "Yes Tony, I want all of those things. I'll do anything to make you happy."

He smiled, "Thank God. Thank you, I love you. What do you need to hear?"

"Just that you don't blame yourself for anything that happened and you will allow me to be there for you as much as you are for me?"

Jackson smiled. Tony smiled and leant down and kissed her on the lips. "Starting from now, let's do all that. Fresh start. Go on a real first date and begin again?"

"I'd love that, I believe you owe me dinner and a movie!"

"I believe I do. I'll even let you pick."

He turned to Jackson. "Thank you. Thanks for helping us find our way through this."

"No problem. It's not going to be easy but if you keep talking and sticking together you will be fine." He kissed Michelle on the forehead. "And I want to see you better soon sweetheart. I love you."

**Thanks for reading, please review:)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for reading. Adults only. I don't own 24. I hope you enjoy**

The next 24 hours passed in a blur for both Michelle and Tony. The hospital decided to keep her in overnight just to be on the safe side and between her father and his family coming in and out they barely had a moment alone together. They had both finally gotten a lot of sleep as well. Michelle was knocked for 6 by the pain medication they had her on and when the doctors saw how restless and agitated Tony was they gave him something to help him sleep.

By 9am the following morning Michelle seemed to have done a complete 360 and was feeling and looking a lot better. Michelle thought so much of that was down to all of the support she was getting from everyone, especially Tony. He had been amazing at looking after her and she loved how well he got along with her Dad. Jackson had stayed for hours and as she slept, he and Tony talked the whole time getting to know one another. Tony loved learning as much about Michelle as he could. Jackson couldn't speak more highly of how strong she had always been and how she was the one that had kept his family together when their mother walked out on them.

They had only been in the door for 5 minutes before Ryan Chappelle was knocking on it. Tony was shocked beyond belief that Ryan was clearly so desperate about this whole mission that he had decided to come and see Michelle for himself and find out if there was any way of the assignment being completed as Division wanted it to be. Tony rolled his eyes and sighed at Ryan as he let him in and had him follow him down the hall to the living room where Michelle had just gotten settled on the couch.

"Hi Michelle."

Michelle looked stunned to see Ryan standing in front of her, she was sure it would be a family member at the door. "Umm...hi Ryan."

"How are you feeling?"

She nodded her head slowly, "Better thanks."

"Tony told me how serious the incident in the bathroom was Michelle. I am sorry that you were placed into a position of not feeling comfortable to talk to us about what had happened...or that it even got out of control like that in the first place."

"It's alright really. I should have spoken up. It's done now though and I just want to put it behind me."

Ryan eased himself down onto a chair, he could feel Tony's eyes like daggers staring at the side of his head. He tried to sound sensitive but that just wasn't really who he was. "Well that's the thing Michelle, it's not really over. We have this opportunity with this lunch and..."

Tony cut him off straight away. "Not going to happen Ryan. Michelle hasn't even been home from the hospital for 10 minutes."

Ryan shifted his eyes to meet Tony's. "I understand that and I know this is terrible timing, however we have learnt a lot over the past few hours and the situation is very different to what we originally thought. I need you to hear me out."

Tony looked at Michelle, "Are you up to this Chelle?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Ryan sighed in relief. "Thank you. As I mentioned to you on the phone yesterday Tony, we have been picking up a lot of chatter about David and this so called 'lunch'. It seems David is into a lot more than we ever realized. Long story short, we have every reason to believe that there are actually 2 women that have been missing for a week now being held by David and or his people."

That got Michelle's attention straight away. "What?"

"2 waitresses were last seen with David and his associates at a bar a week ago. They left with the men and haven't been seen since. They haven't contacted anyone, used their phones, credit cards...literally just disappeared."

Tony stood up and made his way over next to Michelle. "Do you have any reason to believe that they are still alive?"

"Yes, that's why I am bringing this to you. From what we have been able to pick up there is a very high chance they are still alive. I think there is a good chance David is holding them and using them..."

Michelle felt sick for the women. She knew how David had made her feel in the few minutes she was with him, she could only imagine what it would be like to be under his control for this length of time. God knows what was happening to them. "But what makes you think David would have this 'business' lunch at his house with a pile of people if he has got 2 missing women at his home? He is a horrible person but he certainly isn't stupid."

Ryan could tell he was getting through to Michelle. As a women she couldn't stand to know something like this was going on. She was so compassionate; the hard part was going to be getting Tony to agree to let her help out. "The people coming over are just as bad as he is, probably just as involved and any way, it is a huge property, it would be very easy to keep them out of sight." He lowered his voice, "Michelle, I know you are not feeling well and are injured. I know you have been through hell lately but if there is the slightest chance we could recover these women, don't you want to help?"

Tony cut in before Michelle had a chance to respond. "That's not fair to put it on Michelle like that Ryan!"

"I'm not putting anything on Michelle. I just want her to understand the facts before she makes a decision. If this was just about a lunch and trying to extract more information I wouldn't be here asking but there is so much more to this case now."

"What exactly are you asking me to do Ryan?"

He took a deep breath. "Keep the lunch date. We will have the place surrounded. See what you can find there..."

Tony jumped in. "But Michelle would have to go in alone Ryan. Look how bad it got with 3 other agents with her last time, now you are expecting her to go in on her own? We can't protect her well enough. And what is she supposed to do if she does find these women? You think he is going to just let her walk out the front door with them?"

"We will have every tracking and monitoring device possible on Michelle. The moment she finds either these women or anything else she will call it in and we will swarm the place."

"Why can't you just go in now anyways? Surely you have enough for a search warrant? Why do we need to do it this way?"

"You know it's not that simple Tony. And if we are able to make a bust in the middle of all this then we will have a lot more to charge him with."

Michelle asked Ryan if she could have a minute alone with Tony. He told them he would wait in the next room. As soon as he was out of ear shot Tony took her hand, "I know you Chelle, I know you can't handle the thought of those women being in trouble but you can't take it all on. I couldn't cope if something else happened to you..."

"I just don't know how I'll live with myself if I give up the one chance to try and help them because I am scared Tony. But, you are the one I trust more than anyone in the world. If you don't want me to do it then I won't. Simple."

He kissed the back of her hand. "You are amazing, you know that? I can't tell you what you can and can't do though Chelle."

"Yeah you can Tony. It's not just about me anymore, it is about us."

"You want to do this don't you baby?"

"To be honest Tony, I don't know. I just don't know how to turn my back on this though. If it was just the lunch I would say no...But what if we can help these women?"

He sighed. He didn't want Michelle to ever resent him for holding her back, nor could he ignore the feeling of wanting to help these women if they could. He felt so lost as to what the right thing to do was. If he had it his way, Michelle would never go into the field again.

When she could see he didn't know what to say she spoke again, "If I did do it, you would head it up right? I would only consider it if you were the one in charge."

"Of course I will. I will do everything I can to keep you safe. I am just warning you now though sweetheart, the second I think this is going wrong I am coming in, I don't care if it blows the cover or not. I will not lose you and I can't just stand back and watch this man hurt you. So it might make me a terrible agent but for right now, my heart will rule my head when we are out there but nothing is more important to me than you."

"I love you Tony. And I will do exactly what you tell me to do because I feel the same way."

The both looked at each other for a few more moments and then gave each other a nod. She leaned in and gave him a kiss.

Tony called Ryan back in. "Ok, this is how it is going to go. Michelle will do this, ONLY if I lead up tactical and you agree to let me run this mission. I need you to make all of our resources available to me because I am not taking any chances on this one."

Ryan looked so relieved. "It was always going to be you that headed it up Tony if you agreed anyway. Deal..."

"And when this is done, then I want Michelle and I to have a few days off. It has been weeks now and we both need a break. I don't care what other crisis comes up."

"Fair enough. So are you both in?"

They both nodded their heads.

"Thank you. You have made the right call here, both of you. You have a little bit of time but it would be good if you could be in the office in just over an hour so we have time to set this all up."

Tony agreed. As he walked Ryan to the door he told him a list of things he wanted him to start doing to prepare. Ryan agreed to everything Tony requested, which made Tony grin on the inside. He knew how much Ryan hated not feeling in control and it was nice that he was allowing Tony to call the shots on this one with no arguments.

He made his way back to Michelle and slid down on the couch next to her pulling her into his arms. "I can't believe this is happening. Do you know how much I was looking forward to just being able to hold you all day?"

She stroked his forehead. "Me too honey. Let's just get in and out so we can enjoy those few days off together you just managed to score for us."

He loved the feeling of her stroking his head and hair like that and found himself leaning into her hand. She ran her hand around to the back of his head and pulled him in for a kiss. It started off slow for a few moments but neither one of them was able to control themselves and within a moment he had opened her mouth and slid his tongue across to find hers. She tasted perfect and he wondered how the hell he had ever gone all this time without kissing her. He ran his hands desperately up and down her arms and neck. He wanted to explore her body but he also had no idea what she was up for. The last thing he wanted to do was rush her.

Michelle loved that Tony was obviously being very careful about the way he touched her. That he thought about her and respected her enough to let her set the pace only made her fall even deeper for him. She wanted his touch though, he was the only one she ever wanted to touch her again. She put her hand over his and moved it from her neck down to her breast. He moaned as he cupped her in his hand. He began to kiss and nibble on her ear as he whispered to her, "Are you sure? I don't want to rush or hurt you. I'll go at any pace you want."

"I'm sure. I want you Tony."

He could have lost it there and then hearing her say that. He slid his hand up her t-shirt and undid her bra. "Stop me at any time baby." His voice was so deep and husky, it drove her wild. She didn't even think about it as she turned her body a little so she could push into him. She had him pull his top off and so she could explore his chest. Things were getting very heated, very fast. His hands explored every inch of her breasts before he became inpatient. "Can I take your top off? I need to see you."

This made her hesitate a little, not because she didn't want it but because she felt self-conscious of Tony seeing the bruises and becoming turned off. "Are you sure you want to see..."

He stopped her from saying it by kissing her passionately on the mouth. He used both hands to slowly lift her top up. "I've never been more sure of anything..."

"But the bruises..."

"I don't see them honey, I only see you." He lowered his head a little so that he could kiss her breasts. At first he took it slow. Holding one breast in one hand firmly whilst he sucked and licked the other one. He could feel her body flinching to his touch and it drove him crazy. "Harder Tony, harder..."

He looked up and caught eye contact with her and growled at the same time. He had never been so turned on in his life. He gripped her harder and sucked so hard on her breasts that he started leaving hickeys. He was in heaven and figured he could do just this for hours. "You are so beautiful Chelle. Is this what you want?"

"So much. You feel amazing. Your mouth is...god Tony, I need you." She surprised herself at the way she lost all sense of control with Tony. He made her feel so comfortable and safe. When she felt him push himself into her and she could feel how turned on he was she ran he hand up his thigh and over him. She loved it when this made him grunt and push himself into her hand. She trailed her hand back down his thigh but he caught it and moved it back to his groin. He kept his hand over hers and ran them up and down and down a little so she could feel all of him and how turned on he was by her. He only let go when she let out a desperate moan herself and reached for his buckle.

"Fuck Chelle...fuck." He felt almost parallelized as he watched her hands undo his buckle and pants. She gave him the sexiest smile he had ever seen as she reached her hand inside not just his jeans but his boxer shorts as well and took him into her hands. It was almost painful he was so turned on by her. She whispered into his ear, "What do you want Tony?"

He had to keep telling himself this was real. He thought about all the times he had imagined and wondered what it would be like to be intimate with Michelle and his most intense fantasies were being blown out of the water. Hearing her speak to him in this way was unbelievable, he loved that the tone she used, the way she breathed heavier as she spoke, the way her eyes seemed to glow and he found it incredibly adorable the way she was so innocent and vulnerable and yet a cheeky, sexy side of her was coming out. He had become so lost in her that he didn't even realise that he had almost stopped everything as he just stared at her, taking in every single thing that was happening.

Michelle began to panic a little when it seemed like Tony had become hesitant. Immediately she thought that it was because he was getting turned off by the marks on her body from another man. Her heart sank and she looked down at herself, instantly all she could see was the bruises and nothing else. Her instinctive reaction was to push away, she couldn't believe that within a mere few moments she went from being so completely lost in him to irrational insecure and self-conscious.

Tony flipped when all of a sudden she pulled her hand out of his pants and basically went to push him away. "Oh my god, I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." He had no idea what was happening. He saw tears forming in her eyes and when her hands reached out to push him away on his chest he caught them and tried to pull her back into his arms. "What have I done? Have I hurt you?"

She almost yelled at him, taking him completely off guard. "Don't look at me. I know what you are thinking!"

"I don't understand sweetheart, what do you think I am thinking?"

A part of Michelle knew she was over-reacting. She had never felt like this before and had no idea how to handle it. It had been a long time since she had allowed herself to open up to a man and she had realised over the last couple days that she had never felt love like she did for Tony. To think she had disappointed him was unbearable. He looked so confused and his eyes had even become watery.

Tony didn't know whether he should be letting her move away from him and give her space or pulling her back into him. His hands moved faster than he thoughts though and even though she was struggling against him he continued to try and hold her. "Talk to me Chelle..."

"I saw you hesitate and stop, you are disgusted with me, you..."

Everything finally clicked for Tony and he knew exactly what was going. His heart absolutely dropped thinking that she could possibly even think that he would feel that way. The moment was so incredibly heated, raw and out of control. He had to stop her feeling this way immediately because he knew how damaging it was. "NO! STOP!"

His loud, assertive tone made her freeze. He went to pick her up but stopped when he wasn't sure exactly how to without hurting her back and side. He forcefully grabbed her hand and pulled her up off the couch. "Come with me." Everything was happening so fast, he didn't even know if he was thinking things out or not, his behaviour was completely instinctive.

She had no idea what was going on. Tony had never spoken to her the way he did just now. He had a look on his face that she had never seen before and when he pulled her up and instructed her to follow him she didn't even think twice about doing as she was told. They reached the bedroom before he spoke again. He turned her body into his, cupped her chin in his hand forcing her to look directly at him. "You think I am turned off by what that animal did to you?"

"Of course you are. I am. I'm so sorry."

He felt like he could literally kill David with his bare hands for making Michelle feel this way. He felt cheated, that another man was taking something away from them and he wasn't prepared to let that happen. He had waited his entire life for Michelle, never did he think he would find someone even close to who she was. He tried to lower his voice a little but it was useless. "Don't say sorry, I never ever want to hear you apologise for what happened to you again."

He released her chin and ran his hands to her shoulders where he made her turn and look in the mirror on his wall. "What are you doing Tony?" When she saw the mirror she tried to turn away from it. "I don't want to see..."

He was so much more powerful than she was. He didn't even have to be rough to take control of the situation and force her to turn around towards the mirror. He kept his arms around her as he caught eye contact with her in the mirror. Tears were streaming down her face and he was so close to breaking down himself but he knew he had to be the strong one right now and pull her out of this before it got any worse. "Look at yourself sweetheart. You are stunning. I didn't hesitate before because of the bruises...I was just completely and utterly lost in you baby. I have never been more turned on in my life and I was so caught up in trying to take everything in..."

"And I ruined it. I couldn't bear to think that..."

He kept one hand around her shoulder and neck and then slide the other one up her stomach to her breast. His voice softened and became deep and husky again. "You didn't ruin anything sweetheart. You just have to face what has happened to you but you don't have to face it on your own."

She sounded more vulnerable than he had ever heard her before. She wasn't trying to be strong right now which he was so grateful for. "I just can't stand the fact that he touched me. I haven't been with anyone since the day I met you Tony. You are the only one I ever want to touch me but now I feel like got...like he took something away..." She didn't know how to finish what she was trying to say. She had dropped eye contact with him and was now staring at the floor.

Tony's heart was breaking and it was taking every ounce of will power he had not to completely burst into tears. He was determined to stay strong and get her and them through this. He had no idea that she hadn't been with anyone since they met, he absolutely loved that. He hadn't either, he hadn't looked sideways at another woman once since the day she had walked through the door. He kissed her neck and ear. His hand was still cupping her breast. "Did he touch you like this sweetheart?"

He didn't breathe as he waited her answer. He needed her to be able to tell him the truth and not feel like it was going to change the way he felt. He was a little surprised when he felt her nod her head, "Yeah...but not like the way you have been Tony."

"What do you mean baby?"

"He hurt me, I could see the look of hatred and disgust in his eyes as he was doing it and it made me feel like I was worthless."

Tony couldn't stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks hearing that. "I am so sorry he made you feel that way. Trust me though sweetheart, it wasn't hatred or disgust at you, it was with himself. Men like him know that the only way they could ever be close to you like that is to force themselves on you."

Michelle had never once thought about it like that. He amazed her. "Doesn't it make you disgusted knowing that another man just did that to me?"

"I hate him more than I could ever express baby for what he did to you. That he hurt you, that he made you feel the way he did. Even though we have just gotten together, I have felt like you were mine for a long time and I've never been able to picture you with another man because it would drive me insane. It might not be my right to feel like this but I can't help it...I want to be the only one that ever gets to touch you like this, see you, hold you." He saw a little tiny smile appear on her lips and it made his heart flutter. He kissed her neck again and then whispered, "Can you look at us?"

Michelle slowly raised her eyes from the ground to meet Tony's in the mirror. "It's me Chelle; I'm the one touching you right now. I want to explore and touch every inch of you, I want to replace every inch of skin he touched with my touch..."

"I love you so much Tony. You have no idea how much I want you. I'm sorry I freaked out, I was so lost in you and then I thought that I had ruined..."

"Hey hey...couldn't you feel how turned on I was baby?"

She caught eye contact again with him in the mirror and when she saw the cheeky grin starting to appear across his face she began to smile. "Oh my god Tony...you were so...you were..."

He wanted to hear her say it. "Say it Chelle...say it..."

"You were so big and hard. I loved that you took my hand and had me hold you."

Tony pushed himself into her so she could feel how turned on he still was. She looked shocked for a brief moment and then a little sigh slipped from her mouth. She looked at them. His hair was all over the place, like hers. They both had huge black eyes. His pants were still open and she could see his boxers ruffled at the top. His chest was so toned and tanned and his hand was circling her nipple whilst the other was wrapped around her shoulder and neck keeping her close. Seeing herself like that with Tony Almeida was something she had dreamed about daily for so long. "I've wanted to do that forever..." Her voice trailed off as she became a little shy.

Tony couldn't have had his ego stroked any better. It left him desperate for more. He loved that she had made herself blush and it fuelled him to push her and hear her say more. "You have? Tell me what you have thought about."

She started to breathe deeper and deeper. "Tony..."

"I love hearing you speak to me like this baby..."

"You first, have you had any thoughts?"

He actually laughed. God if she only knew just how many thoughts he had about them and the things he thought about doing to her. She would probably die if she ever had a glimpse into some of the things that ran through his head sometimes. "Let's see...one of my favourites is when you are in my office, I close the blinds and then pick you up and put you down on my desk. I lean down on you so that you are stretched out in front of me and then I begin to..." He stopped, unsure of which scenario he should be revealing to her.

"And..."

Tony couldn't believe it, as he watched the look on her face of anticipation of what he was going to say he felt speechless. It was one thing to think these things but it was another to tell them to her.

"Have you actually gone shy Almeida?"

He laughed a little. "Not shy...just trying to decide which one of the million thoughts I have had I should be telling you..."

"The best one of course!" She swayed her hips so that she rubbed up against him. He swore under his breath and pushed himself back into her.

"I'm trying to be a gentleman here Chelle..."

Michelle reached her hand behind her back and began to stroke him over his jeans. "I have no interest in you sounding like a gentleman right now baby."

"Fuck Chelle." His knees went a little weak on him. Did she have any idea of what she was doing to him right now? She used her other hand to cover his that was still holding her breast and firmly moved their hands so he was holding all over and then at the same time she ran her other hand down into his pants and took hold of him. "Oh Shit..." He could feel himself flinching at her every touch and it made him push into her hand as hard as he could repeatedly.

"I warned you..." he whispered into her ear before turning her around in his arms so that they were facing one another. He wasted no time in taking her hand and putting it back where it was and then pulled her so close that they were almost hugging and he could speak into her ear. "You are looking at me shocked because nothing has ever happened before and we are at work. Even though I've locked my door and closed the blinds we both know that we can't be loud because everyone is around. You are wearing a skirt and I lean forward so our lips are just an inch from each other. We keep going to kiss but before we do...I slide my hand right up your thigh and into your panties. You sigh my name and then as I push my fingers inside you harder and harder I have to kiss you to stop you from saying anything too loud..."

Tony pulled his head back to check her reaction to what he was saying. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was open a little. When she realized he had stopped talking she opened her eyes and looked at him. He raised his eyebrows in question and bit his lip nervously. Michelle was speechless in the best way possible. Neither one of them could believe they were actually in this position with each other. He couldn't help himself, he had to know what he was saying was ok. "Say something..."

She took a huge deep breath. She was so aware how much Tony was going out on a limb here and she wanted him to know how much she loved it. "As long as this story involves me taking you in my mouth..."

He stopped in shock and his jaw dropped open. It slipped out of his mouth before he had a chance to stop it, "You would want to do that to me?"

Michelle could see by the look in his eyes that his question wasn't playing along with this 'fantasy' they were talking about, he was actually questioning if she would want to be with him in that way. She ran her hand down the side of his face gently. "Tony..."

He looked confused and vulnerable and she knew there was something to the way he was looking at her. He tried to quickly brush it off and leaned in to kiss her but she stopped him, "Is that something you would ever want from me?"

He looked really embarrassed and his eyes started darting all over the place. "Of course, I just didn't think that..."

Everything had come to a bit of a stop. He looked uncomfortable but yet completely intrigued and excited at the same time. "I thought women didn't really ever like...or ever really want to..."

Michelle stopped him from fumbling over his words, wanting to put him out of his misery as quickly as possible. "Tony has anyone ever done that for you?"

He knew she would never believe him now if lied anyways. He had been completely caught off guard by this and wasn't even sure how he was meant to feel about it. He slowly shook his head. "No...I mean hands yes, but mouth..." he shook his head again.

Michelle couldn't believe it. How was that even possible? She figured women would have been throwing themselves at Tony his entire life. "How is that possible...is that something that..."

He became even more frustrated and embarrassed. He pulled back from her and cut her off. "Look, I've only had a few 'serious' girlfriends and now after I know how I feel about you I realize none of them were ever that serious. I've never had a one night stand. I was always given the impression that most women didn't really like doing that and I would never make someone do something they didn't want to do."

She hated seeing him uncomfortable and she wanted to put him at ease as quickly as she could. "I've never had a one night stand either Tony and I have also only had a couple long relationships..."

He just blurted it out, "Nina could never have cared less about spending time...on me...like that. That it was selfish of guys to think a woman would want to do that. I just never pushed it ok?"

He sounded very defensive. She pulled him back into her arms. "It's ok Tony. You are a good guy, there are not many men in the world like you. Just so you know though, yes a lot of women don't like it and a lot do but..."

"Do you?"

She smiled at him. "With you...I couldn't think of anything better than making you feel special and as good as possible."

He bit his lip and tried not to have the biggest grin across his face. The thought of Michelle doing that to him drove him insane. "You know, I would do anything to make you feel good and special. I want to be as close to you as possible but I would never ever expect you do something you didn't really want to do."

"I know baby, you are the most sensitive, respectful man I have ever known. And I would never want you to do anything you are not comfortable with...this all has to go both ways, right?"

He kissed her on the lips quickly, "You are so amazing. I can't believe I just told you all that...you have a way of making me feel like I can tell you anything. That I am safe with you and you're not going to think less of me. As you know I have had some pretty shitty relationships and I've never felt like I am that important to the other person. Yet with you...I don't know, it's just so different and we have only just gotten together. We haven't even made love yet and I feel like I am closer to you intimately than I ever have been with anyone."

"I hate the way you have been treated before Tony. How anyone could have you and not feel like the luckiest woman in the world, I'll never know. I've opened up to you more in the last few days than I have with anyone in my life. I still can't believe what we have been through but in a way I'm glad we are opening up to each other. It makes me feel like we can get through anything together. I love you."

"I love you sweetheart. Come here..." He kissed her passionately on the mouth and held her as close as possible. As he went to pull her down onto the bed with him he caught the time on his bedside clock. They were meant to be leaving for the office in 5 minutes. "FUCK! The time!"

Michelle pulled back and looked at her watch. Her stomach dropped.

Tony saw the look of panic spread across her face, he pulled her back in and held her by both cheeks. "Baby, it's not too late to say no to this. I just can't imagine you being anywhere near this guy again."

"I just know that we will regret not trying to help those women honey. But, I'm not letting David near me again like that. The second things start to get out of control I need you to come in."

"Trust me Chelle, I will not let this get out of control. I'll do everything to keep you safe and I just need you to know that you can say no and I'll support you either way."

"Thanks baby, I wouldn't be going in if I didn't have you behind me."

Before they started to grab their things to leave Tony pulled her in and hugged her as tightly as he could, he never wanted to let go. "Tell me you are coming back and staying here with me tonight..."

"Try keeping me away..."

"And the next night and the next night and the next night..."

They both laughed as they kissed again and held each other close. Tony was so torn, on one hand he felt like the happiest, luckiest guy on the planet right now but on the other thinking about the mission made him feel like he was on the verge of losing it. He couldn't handle the thought of finally getting so close to Michelle and anything happening. He promised himself no matter what he had to do, how pissed off CTU got at him, he would do whatever he had to do to make sure she came home safely with him tonight.

**Thanks for reading. I hope you like this story so far. Please let me know what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry it has taken so long to get this chapter up but it is a very long one! I hope you enjoy.**

**I don't own 24. Adults only content! Thanks:)**

2 hours later Michelle found herself staring into the mirror in David's bathroom. She had been at the house for 35 minutes now, most of the time had been spent sitting with a group of other women at a separate table to the men. She had tried to appear as though she was making an effort to make small talk with these people but really she was studying the group of men at the next table as they sat talking.

There was a cloud of smoke above them as they all puffed away on cigars and skulled scotch. So far she hadn't heard one comment that was of any kind of interest. They actually appeared to come across as a bunch of ordinary business men all enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon together. What was odd was the clear line of the men and women. David had made it more than clear she wasn't to approach their table or speak with anyone unless he told her to. She was surprised he had let her even walk into the house to go to the bathroom on her own.

After meeting her at the gate to his property he had eyed her up and down and smiled at her before promptly slapping her across the face for not being able to cover her black eye better. He had introduced her as his 'lady friend' to everyone else, before instructing her to go and sit with the other wives and behave.

She knew that tactical could see everything that was happening through a camera on her blouse and could hear everything through a pin point microphone on her bra strap, which made it impossible for her to even go to the toilet. So she used the time to take a minute and collect herself before she had to go back out there. She took in a huge breath of air as she pumped herself up to go back out and face everyone again. She hated this and just wanted to be back at Tony's house where she felt safe and comfortable.

She flung the door open and got the surprise of her life to see David standing there waiting for her. "Took your time, is there a problem?"

Michelle shook her head and tried to smile for him, "No not at all, just touching up my make-up."

He reached for her and pulled her into him. He reeked of alcohol and sweat. He couldn't even hug her without being rough, with his size and height she almost felt like a small child in his arms. His hands trailed down her back where he then grabbed her bottom and began to kiss her neck. He growled into her ear, "Come with me."

Before she could even respond he began to drag her down a hallway. Michelle panicked. Was this guy serious? Did he really expect sex now whilst he had a group of people waiting outside? There was no way she would do this and she knew Tony would be storming the house before he let this guy to this to her. Just as they were about to open a door to a bedroom another man appeared. "Hey David, there is something that needs your...ummm attention."

"Fuck off Jacob, I'm busy. I'll be out in a few minutes."

David turned Michelle's body around so she was facing Jacob and as he stood behind her he ran his hands down over her breasts and grabbed at them forcefully, right in front of this other man. She felt sick, her heart was racing and her body hurt as he pushed his into her back.

Jacob didn't look the slightest bit phased by what David was doing. In fact, it was like he just looked straight past Michelle to David. He shook his head, "This can't wait David. Marley has made an..."

David cut him off, "Shut the fuck up. What have I told you about..." He slammed his hand into the wall. "Fine, but this better be fucking worth it."

David spun Michelle back around. He reached his hand under her skirt to her inner thigh and held her roughly. "You, wait here. I'll be back soon."

Michelle just nodded her head in response. Her heart felt like it started to beat again as it sunk in that she had just been bought a little bit of time. She knew that she had only a few minutes to find something or get the hell out of there because when he came back she knew what she was in for. He pushed her body out of his way and followed Jacob down the hall.

Michelle crept down the hall behind them, keeping a safe distance and then watched as he left the house and went back outside. Once she could see he was in the garden with the other men she turned around and scanned the room. She had seen a door leading off the kitchen earlier that was locked so she decided to head there first. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out.

"Yeah..."

"Michelle, it is Chloe O'Brian. There is a room behind the library, I am not sure how you can get in there as we can't tell if there is a door or not but..."

"Fine, where is the library..."

Chloe directed Michelle down the hall, through a study and lounge room, down some stairs and through a couple more doors before she came to a library. "Chloe, does Tony know I am heading down here because if I get caught at this end of the house I am..."

She was cut off by Ryan coming onto the line, "Don't worry Michelle, Tony is able to see what is going on. Tactical is ready to head in the second you need them. We are going to create a distraction on the street outside his front gate to hopefully buy you some time."

"Ok." Michelle hung up and began to search the room. She pushed every shelf or latch she could find trying to find something that would lead into the next room. One shelf she pushed made a draw open out which held a gun and a pile of paperwork. She checked the gun was loaded and then put it inside her jacket. After 10 minutes of finding nothing and feeling like she had searched everywhere she began to panic that she was running out of time. She went to dial the office again when as she stepped forward she looked down and saw a tiny lever on the ground, next to the leg of a desk. She pulled the lever and heard a clicking sound behind her. She turned to see a couple of what looked like books sliding to the side and a little handle.

She rushed to the handle and pushed it down, immediately a section of the book shelf moved to the side like an automatic door. Her heart was pounding. She ran back over to the library door and locked it. 'This is it' she told herself. If David or anyone came down to this area now she was screwed. She had barely opened the door behind the shelves an inch when she heard whimpering. She held her breath and pushed it open enough to look in.

Michelle's body slumped hard against the shelf beside her when she saw what was in front of her. Not 2 women but 6. All huddled together in a room no bigger than most people's bathrooms. They were all only half dressed, battered and obviously scared to death. They held each other close, put their heads down and pushed their bodies into the wall as far away from Michelle as possible. Michelle wanted to burst into tears. The sight of this and imagining what these women must have all been subjected to made her want to vomit. She quickly kicked into action.

She raised her hands and kept her voice quiet, "I'm not here to hurt you, and I am a federal agent. I am here to help you."

A couple of the girls raised their heads and looked at her in hope, the rest kept their heads down and cried, begging her not to hurt them. She walked towards them, "Please, you have to trust me, we don't have time but I am here to get you out. There are a pile of police surrounding the house and we are going to get you out of here but I need your help."

Michelle tried to get eye contact with them one by one. After what felt like forever a couple of the woman rushed at her and threw their arms around her, "help us, please. Oh my god, please help us."

She held them back tightly, even though their grip was sending pain through her body. "I'll do my best but I really need you to help. Does anyone here know their way around this place?"

They all shook their heads. "We get blindfolded when we are lead out of here. We don't even know what is on the other side of the wall."

Michelle told them she needed to make a call. It was hard even getting out of their grip to reach her phone. She called the office. "Ryan, can you see this?"

"Yes Michelle, well done. Tony is on his way in now."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Chloe is going to direct you out of that room into another area of the house until we get the place under our control."

* * *

><p>Tony and his team all entered the property from 5 or 6 different locations, hoping to surround David and his men as quickly as possible. The second David saw agents storming his property he bolted inside. Within seconds his men began firing at the agents and the whole place became mayhem. The other women outside were screaming and running around everywhere trying to find somewhere to hide and the tactical team was doing their best to make sure the women were not caught in the fire fight.<p>

Michelle had made it back up to the first floor with the women and just about had them into another room when one of David's men rounded the corner and caught them. He called out to David and began swearing abuse at Michelle and trained his gun on them telling them not to move. Michelle stood in front and yelled at the women to go into the room. There were a few moments where they didn't move, scared to death they would be shot if they did but after Michelle screamed at them again to get into the room they all made a run for it. The man fired a shot and Michelle fired back as she dropped to the floor. She felt the bullet fly past the top of her head. She yelled at the women to lock the door. She was now outside in the hall on her own but the 6 women were locked inside the room together. Before she knew what was happening she felt someone grab her by her shoulders and pull her up onto her feet. She elbowed the person as hard as she could in the groin and as he doubled over she turned and punched him in the neck and side of the head. She got in the 3 hard blows before the other man that had fired at her attacked her from the back. She was kicked and punched repeatedly by both men. She had no hope of beating the both of them and she felt like she had only a second left until she was killed. She fought like she had never fought before, fighting for her life with strength she never knew she had.

The sound of a gunshot pierced her ears. She didn't know if she had been shot and everything felt like it came to a complete stop for a moment whilst she looked to see what had happened. The man that was holding her by her hair and arm slumped to the ground. Another shot went off and immediately she felt the 2nd man fall down on top of her. Blood poured from his head gushing down all over her.

"Sweetheart, are you ok? Chelle, talk to me..."

The sound of Tony's voice made her burst into tears. She was so weak and the weight of the dead man's body was too heavy for her to move from under him. Within seconds she felt the weight being lifted and she could see Tony reaching down for her. "Tony..."

"It's going to be ok baby..." He pulled her up off the ground. He wanted to hold her and check every inch of her but he knew that the house still wasn't under control and they were not safe yet. He did a quick scan of the room again and couldn't see anyone.

"There are 6 women in that room. I told them to lock the door..."

Tony was trying to keep himself together. The sight of Michelle covered in blood and after watching her be beaten like that was playing over and over in his head. "You were amazing sweetheart..." He pounded on the door. "Police, open the door."

When the door was unlocked, Tony held Michelle and began to push her into the room, "I want you to stay in there baby until the place is secure. Lock the door."

"I can help Tony...don't leave me..."

He kissed her on the forehead quickly but basically picked her up body and forced her into the room. "You have already done enough, please Chelle stay in the room. I'll be back for you in a minute. I love you..."

He didn't give her a chance to argue or reply, he stole one last look at her before pulling the door closed behind him and yelling at them all to lock it and wait. He grabbed another gun from one of the bodies and began to make his way down the hall. He could hear his men telling him that different sections were now under control but that 3 men were still not counted for. Once he was into the next room he could hear fighting and ran towards it. One of his agents, Les was wrestling with a man. He fired a shot in the air to get their attention and then trained his gun on the other man. The man was unarmed and raised his hands above his head and began to beg for his life. Les was able to get back on his feet and Tony passed him his extra gun whilst directing the man to lie down on his stomach with his hands on his head. As the man went to lie down he tried to make a desperate reach for a gun he could see on the ground and Tony fired straight away. One bullet straight into his shoulder.

Tony called for help and when Les said he had the situation under control Tony kept making his way down the hall. He crossed through 3 rooms finding nothing. He had almost done a circle and was almost back to the room where the girls were all in when he felt a bullet skim his arm, making him drop his gun. He dropped to the floor to pick it up as he also flipped to see who it was.

Before he had time to grab it, he was kicked in the head and he felt his body slam into the ground. It was David. He looked up at him and they stared into each other's eyes. The rage in David's eyes was like nothing Tony had ever seen before. "YOU..."

Tony didn't speak back. He could see by the expression on David's face that he was realizing that Michelle must be an agent as well and that he had been set up. He began screaming at Tony and calling Michelle a fucking bitch, demanding where she was. Tony didn't speak and David kicked him again. "Where the fuck is she?"

Again Tony just looked at David, straight in the eyes. "It's over David. You are surrounded; you are not getting out of here." He barely got his last word out before he was smashed across the side of his head with the base of the gun.

Michelle could hear everything. She could hear David beating Tony just outside the door and she knew that it would only be a matter of seconds before David killed him. When she heard him begin to scream at Tony again demanding to know where she was she took that opportunity to open the door hoping he wouldn't hear over his own noise. She looked to see David standing over Tony kicking him. She watched as David knelt down to Tony and held his head up by his neck and put his gun to his head, "I'm gonna ask you one last time, where is she?"

Michelle's heart was pounding out of her chest. She couldn't fire now whilst David had the gun directly at Tony's head with his finger on the trigger. She prayed for David to move or do something that would give her a shot. She raised her gun and then just when she thought she was going to have to make the call to shoot and risk everything, Tony opened his eyes and caught eye contact with her. She felt a rush of adrenalin and hope.

Tony quickly darted his eyes all over and then into David's so he would not look around. "Ok ok...don't shoot. She's..." He mumbled so that David wouldn't understand him. David tightened his grip on Tony, "WHAT?"

Tony again spoke as though he could barely string a sentence together. This time he allowed David to be able to make out a couple words he said. Tony pretended to start again and nodded his head the opposite direction of Michelle. David was falling for it and he looked up over Tony's shoulder. Flustered and fooled into thinking Tony was on deaths door, he allowed his gun to waiver as he tried to make Tony sit up.

Michelle took the 2 second window of time David's movements had allowed her, where the gun was not trained on Tony, to fire. She felt so weak that even just holding the gun up the last minute had been exhausting and she felt like her arms were giving out on her. The force of the gun going off was enough to make her stumble to the side. The bullet entered David's shoulder making him drop his gun and flail to the side a little. Before the pain set in and he even knew what was happening, Tony was able to punch him in the neck and push his body away from him. He reached for the gun and was only a second ahead of David who had now been able to react to what was happening and was trying to go for the gun as well. Tony literally wrapped his finger through the loop, flicked the gun on its side toward David and pulled the trigger. It hit David in the other shoulder making him again fall back and gave Tony enough time to hold the gun correctly, sit himself up a tiny bit and aim his next shot. This time he got him directly in the head and he watched as David's body basically folded backwards and slammed against the wall.

He looked over at Michelle but before he had a chance to even start moving, a couple agents came rushing into the room and helped him up. One agent jumped over him to get to Michelle and the women. Tony watched as Nick opened the door completely and told them all that they were safe and it was over and then went to help Michelle get up off the ground. She was tired and weak though and said she needed to sit.

The women were screaming and all began to huddle around Michelle. Some trying to help her, some thanking her repeatedly for saving them. The more the women looked around to see the place flooded with police and it really set in that they were finally safe, the more hysterical they became. They didn't take their eyes off Michelle and tried to get closer to her, she had saved them and they needed to know she was going to be ok.

The tactical team wrapped blankets around all the women and tried to get them to give Michelle space so that they could check on her. Tony and Michelle were only a couple of meters apart, both on the ground, winded and exhausted trying to gather the strength to get to each other. Michelle hadn't been able to get eye contact with Tony yet as he was flanked by people, all she could see was his body but she could hear him asking about her and the sound of his voice bought fresh tears to her eyes. She looked up at Baker who was kneeling over her asking a pile of questions. "Can you lift me over to Tony?"

"I don't think you should move yet Michelle, not until the medics have checked..."

"Please, I ok...can you please just take me to Tony?"

Baker didn't need much convincing. He knew how close Michelle and Tony were and after everything they had both just done if she just wanted to be near him, who was he to prevent that. He took one of the blankets and wrapped it around Michelle and then slowly picked her up in his arms. He was surprised at how light she was. "You need to tell me if I am causing you more pain."

"Thank you, you have no idea how much I appreciate..."

"Of course Michelle. You were both incredible today. You just saved those 6 women and god knows how many others!"

Michelle caught eye contact with him as he finished his sentence and smiled. She thanked him again, for everything.

As Baker took the last couple steps toward Tony he told everyone to make some room. He would never forget the look of relief and happiness on Tony's face when he lifted his head and saw that he had Michelle and was bringing her to him. He felt goose bumps on his neck as he slowly lowered Michelle onto the ground next to Tony and before she had even hit the ground Tony was scooping her into his arms and kissing her neck.

Tony took a moment to thank Baker before whispering to Michelle, "You saved me..."

Michelle held onto Tony as tightly as she could, "You saved me. I love you Tony."

"God I love you sweetheart. It's over, it's actually over."

They both slumped against the wall but stayed as close to one another as possible. Tony couldn't help but smile as he watched her try and wrap the blanket around him as well. Everything felt completely unreal. He looked around at the 30 or more agents that were now all walking around the room taking care of different tasks. He tried to block out the body of David that was still so close to them that Tony's foot was just touching David's side. Blood was everywhere. He could hear the women all comforting each other and trying to answer questions they were being asked but all any of them were interested in knowing was when they could go home. Then he trained his eyes back on his Michelle who was finally back in his arms. He could feel his stomach turn inside out as it set in just how close they had been to really losing each other. They had saved each other and they had both taken their turn at facing death in the eyes but somehow they had managed to beat it and he decided now he was going to never lose another second of getting to love Michelle and make her as happy as she made him.

He could see that she was losing the battle to stay awake. Her grip on him was becoming less and less to the point that her hands were merely resting on his chest now. He could hear the medics making their way into the room and being briefed on the situation. He nudged Michelle on her cheek and neck, "Baby, I need you to try and stay awake."

"I'm tired Tony. I'm really tired."

"I know sweetheart, I know and you will get to sleep really soon but right now it is so important that you don't fall asleep. Can you look at me?"

He knew she had taken multiple blows to her body and head and it worried him how dangerous it was for someone with a serious concussion to fall asleep. He knew how she felt because he wanted nothing more right now than to hold her close and sleep for hours. He eyes flickered a little as she struggled to open them and he found himself nudging her again. "Sweetheart..."

"Not sleeping, just resting my eyes sir."

As soon as she called him 'sir' he panicked and screamed for help. The sound of his very loud cry for help made her eyes open again. A few medics appeared next to them. "You gotta help her stay awake, she's been hit in the head..."

The next 20 minutes past in a blur as they were both helped. Michelle could feel some many hands on her, an oxygen mask was now on her and she had lost count at had many needles had been jabbed into her. At one point someone went to slide her body to the side away from Tony and she instinctively grabbed for his hand. As she rolled her head to check on him, she felt his hand tighten around hers and then they caught eye contact. He winked at her and it sent shivers down her spine. Now she knew exactly how she had gotten all that strength to fight the way she had today. Tony had given her the strength to fight harder for her life and his then she ever would have thought possible of herself. She winked back at him and told him she loved him.

Once they were both stabilized they were placed on stretchers and taken out to waiting ambulances. Their families had been notified and would meet them at the hospital.

* * *

><p>The next time Michelle opened her eyes she saw her Dad sitting next to her holding her hand and she could feel bandages and that she had been cleaned up. "Dad?"<p>

Relief was evident in his eyes as they opened very wide as he smiled and stood up over her. "Sweetheart, how you feeling?"

"Ok, I think. How long has it been?"

"You have been in the hospital for about 7 hours now Chelle..."

"Is Tony ok? Where is he?"

Jackson smiled, "He is fine, and you are both going to be ok. He is just next door and we have already organized for you to move into the bed next to his if you want..."

Michelle nodded her head. "Yeah I need to see him, he saved my life today Dad. I need to see that he is alright."

Jackson kissed her on the forehead. "And you saved his from what I hear. You are such a brave, incredible woman Chelle. You saved those 6 women!"

"Just doing my job Dad. Besides I had a whole team and Tony right behind me."

Jackson shook his head and smiled. He wondered if his daughter would ever actually understand how amazing she was. He could see she was itching to see Tony and wasn't going to be able to calm down until she did. He knew Tony was already awake as he had been floating between the 2 rooms for hours now. He had spent most of the time talking with Tony's parents. "How about I go check if we can get you moved over now that you are awake? Tony can't wait to see you..."

Michelle smiled widely for him. "Thanks Dad."

As she watched him wonder out of the room she realized she hadn't even asked what was wrong with her. She tried moving her arms and legs and once she knew she could move each limb she figured anything else couldn't be too bad. She felt like she had been hit by a truck and knew she was covered in bruises and was very swollen. She didn't care though, she was just so relieved that she and Tony were going to be ok and back together again. She pictured all of the women's faces from earlier today and she knew they had done the right thing.

Tony was ecstatic when he learned that Michelle had finally woken up and was ready to come into his room. He had been awake for an hour now and felt like every second was an hour as he waited for her to wake. He had requested that she be bought into his room as soon as he saw the empty bed but was told that they would have to wait until Michelle had woken up and agreed to sharing a room with him. He had the headache from hell and had to lie with his head to the side a little as he had 15 stitches to the back of his head where he had been hit with the base of the gun. His chest was black and blue and he had a pile of little cuts and scrapes but nothing a little time wouldn't heal. Considering how the situation could have ended up, he didn't think he could be more grateful. He had been told that Michelle was in much the same condition as him, her back had opened up and had required a whole new set of stitches and she was badly beaten and bruised but she would be ok. He had been warned now by both his dad and hers plus the doctors that Michelle had very clear hand marks around her neck and on her arms. His stomach turned when he was told but they had all wanted him to be prepared before he saw her.

His sister had been reading him the sports section from the paper for the last few minutes but the room went dead silent when the door opened and Michelle was wheeled in. A couple nurses pulled the other bed out of the way and it felt like forever for them to get her set up before he could finally see her. She was beautiful and made his heart begin to race. They locked eyes, "Chelle..."

Michelle burst into tears. Seeing Tony, surrounded by their family and finally having everything behind them hit her like a ton of bricks. The second she started to cry she saw him slowly sit up and begin to get out of his bed. His mom tried to stop him but he assured everyone that he was fine. It felt like it took him forever to get to her as each step was clearly hard and he was shaky on his feet. His dad help to steady him and by the time he reached her bed he was breathing deeply and looked a little pale. Michelle reached her arms out and he fell into her embrace. "I love you Tony. I can't believe we got through that. Thank you...thank you..."

He kissed her and held her tightly, "Thank you sweetheart. I love you so much. Everything is going to be ok now."

Michelle shifted her body to the side. "Can you get up?"

He nodded his head and his Dad helped him to get onto Michelle's bed and lie next to her. It took them a few moments to get into a comfortable position but they both felt so much better once they were finally lying next to each other. If their family wasn't in the room then Tony would be doing a complete inspection of Michelle to know exactly where she was hurt but he knew that would have to wait.

Josh came over to Michelle's side, "We heard what you did Michelle, you continue to amaze us but we will all never be able to thank you enough for saving our son..."

They could all see her become a little blush but also a little uptight, her voice was soft, "Tony saved me, he was amazing! I never stood a chance and he completely saved me..."

Tony's stomach turned as images of the 2 men beating Michelle flashed through his head. He felt like it made his blood boil and he could feel his whole body become tense. "Don't even say it Chelle..."

Everyone else was a little confused by Tony's reaction but Michelle wasn't. She knew exactly how he felt because she was the same way. She didn't want to hear anything that was going to make her have to think about this afternoon. She figured she would never ever get over seeing Tony with a gun to his head like that. She looked up at everyone and tried to put a smile on her face, "Let's talk about something else...can we?"

Josh, Shelley and Jackson all looked at each other with concern in their eyes. As parents, they wanted to understand what their children had been through so they could help them through it but they could also see that everything was so raw and that they both needed a little time. Luckily Jo seemed a little more oblivious to everything and jumped in straight away talking about a movie she had seen last weekend. She was clearly at a loss of what to say and so anything and everything was just dropping out of her mouth until someone else jumped in and helped her. Finally Shelley was able to calm down for a moment and join in on the conversation.

Jackson watched as both Tony and Michelle seemed to relax a little when the attention was off them and the conversation was on something completely different. He knew his daughter well enough to know she wasn't listening to the conversation at all, she was off in her own world, most likely analysing everything that had happened. He felt extremely torn and useless, all he wanted was to know what to do to help his daughter feel better. A few minutes he decided that Michelle and Tony really should be given a few minutes alone, they must have so much to talk about so he asked Tony's family to join him in going to get some more coffee. His parents picked up on what he was doing straight away and went along with him, having to drag Jo with them as she didn't seem to want to leave their side.

Once the door closed behind them all and for the first time they were alone together since they had arrived back at the office this morning. Tony turned his body a little more to the side so he was facing in towards her. His voice was quiet and drawn out, "So how you really doing sweetheart?"

Michelle shook her head a little. "I have no idea. I'm not just saying that, I really don't know how to start even thinking about everything..."

"I know baby, I am the same."

"How's your head Tony? And where else are you hurt?"

"I've got some stitches, and apparently they had to shave a chunk of my hair off!"

Michelle giggled a little at him. His neck and back of the side of his head had a bandage on it so she couldn't see anything. She ran her hand up across his forehead and through his hair, "I love you hair but it will grow back in no time baby. Does it hurt?"

"Not at the moment really. I mean I can feel it but I think they have pumped me full of enough pain medication that I feel pretty good..."

"Where else are you hurt?"

Tony could see just like he had been feeling, she was on a mission to understand exactly what had happened to him and how he was hurt. Based on how she had been the last couple days, he knew she would be feeling self-conscious of her bruises and he wanted to get rid of that straight away. He held her hand, "I'll make you a deal sweetheart. I'll show you my everywhere I have been hurt but then I need you to do the same."

She nodded her head. "Alright, but I haven't even had a chance to look myself yet so I don't even know what I look like."

"No one has spoken to you yet?"

Michelle panicked a little. "No...Why, what is it? As soon as I woke up I asked to come in here. I know nothing is broken cause I can move everything."

He put his hand on her cheek, "No nothing baby, I was just surprised you hadn't even had a chance to see yourself yet, that's all." He was going to leave it at that, figuring he was almost glad he would be with her when she looked at her stomach and legs herself but he knew she wouldn't see her neck until someone gave her a mirror to look into. He had to warn her and he didn't want her to see it before being warned. He cleared his throat and then kissed her on the cheek. "There is something I want to tell you baby, just cause you won't be able to see it until you get up..."

"What?"

He tried to keep his voice as soothing and calm as possible. He ever so gently traced his fingers down her cheek to her neck as he spoke, "Beautiful, you have some bruises on your neck, they are in the shape of hand..." he held his breath as he waited for her to react. Her eyes were a little watery but she didn't seem that shocked.

Michelle could remember so vividly being held by her neck that she wasn't surprised, she just hated the thought that she was left with such a clear reminder, "Is it really bad? Like really obvious it is his hand?"

He couldn't lie to her. He kept eye contact and did half a nod. "It is obvious baby but remember they are just bruises and they will go away. I didn't want you to get a shock when you looked in a mirror. Our Dad's prepared me that you must have been held very roughly there." He could feel himself beginning to well up, this was so hard. "I am so sorry baby, I love you so much...I am so sorry they hurt you..."

Michelle stopped him, "Hey, its ok. I remember it happening so I kinda figured there would be marks. I only really care about how you feel having to look at it..."

He pushed himself up enough that he was able to reach his lips to her neck and kiss her. He took his time and kissed her around her whole neck, covering every mark he could see with his kiss. He whispered as he spoke, "You know how stunning I think you are, I don't see the bruises like that baby, I just see you. I just hate thinking about you being hurt."

Michelle kept her hand running through his hair as he kissed her. It felt so nice and she loved how slow and gentle he was with her. It felt so intimate and she couldn't believe she was in this position with him. She had never allowed herself to be so raw in front of anyone and this felt like one of the most intimate moments of her life. When he finished kissing her neck she directed his head so that they could kiss on the lips. It wasn't even slow for a second, immediately they opened their mouth's and explored each other. It was heated and intense.

When Michelle let out a little moan, it bought Tony crashing back to reality. It turned him on so much that he went to push himself into her and then he remembered where they were and the situation. He growled in frustration as he pulled back a little, "Jesus Chelle...you have a way of making me forget everything else in the world." He licked and nibbled on her ear as he spoke in a husky voice, "Do you know how much I just want to be back at home, alone with you...no interruptions..."

She blushed and giggled shyly. She loved hearing him speak to her like that. "I've never wanted anything more..."

He growled again in frustration as they locked eyes. They kissed again.

After a few minutes, Tony pulled back slightly, "Should we continue before everyone comes back? I need to see you, I need to see for myself how you are?"

She nodded her head. "Me too. Can you go first?"

"Ok baby." He rolled his body back a little. They were both in hospital gowns but he had pulled boxer shorts on shortly after he woke up. "Remember...just bruises and I'm not hurting right now ok!"

She nodded her head but she felt sad for what she was about to see. She stopped his hand from pulling up his gown. "Let me."

He nodded and smiled. He liked that. Michelle went to pull the whole gown up and then hesitated when she wondered if he had anything on. She looked at him and he guessed what she was thinking straight away. "I've got boxers on..."

She blushed a little and then quickly pulled the whole gown up, she wanted to do it quickly and then be able to take everything in straight away. She couldn't help let out a loud sob when she was confronted with his whole chest black and blue. He had welts and a lot of areas were quite swollen. He was in worse condition they she had thought and it made her feel sick to her stomach. She started to really cry. She could hear him saying her name over and over and telling her he was ok but she it was hard to accept when she was seeing him like this. Her tears began to fall all over his stomach and chest as she leaned down and kissed him gently and began to trace her hand over him. Images of David over Tony like he had been were flooding her mind and it felt like all she could hear was the sounds she had heard of Tony being beaten whilst she was on the other side of the door. She became more and more hysterical, unable to stop crying and stop her mind from feeling like it was going to explode.

Tony could tell she could barely hear him and had gone off into another world thinking about everything. He absolutely hated seeing her so upset. He had never seen her cry like she was right now. It made him cry. He heard the door open and he saw his Dad's face. They caught eye contact over Michelle's head and Tony shook his head at his Dad. As much as Josh's natural instinct was to and try and help he knew this was a private moment between Tony and Michelle and was something they were going to have to get through on their own. He quickly nodded his head at Tony that he understood and then closed the door and turned to the rest of the family. "We can't go back in yet, they need some more time." He led them all back off into one of the waiting areas. They had all heard Michelle crying hysterically and Jackson asked again if Josh was sure he shouldn't be going in and helping her. Josh shook his head, "No, I think Michelle just saw Tony's injuries for the first time. We need to give them a bit of space." He could see the sadness on Jackson's face. He put his arm across his shoulder and led him back down the hall. "I know how badly you want to help your daughter, this is the worst feeling in the world but I promise you that Tony will look after her."

"I know. Tony is amazing with her. I just feel so useless at the moment. I can't get my head around what they have been through the last few days...and that is just what we actually know of! I just wish there was something I could do."

Josh dropped his head. "I feel the same way. Tony had been through the worst couple years of his life before he met Michelle and she changed everything for him. He was so withdrawn from us and walked around like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. I've done everything in the world I could to get him to try and open up, for us to be as close as we use to be. Then all of a sudden when they came home the other morning after what happened at the bar, Tony finally leaned on me, asked me for help and was more open with me and Michelle then I have ever seen him in my life. Having that bond back and then seeing him go through this is making me feel desperate to be there for every second but I know I can't. They are so good together Jackson, she brings out the best in him and I've never seen Tony love anyone the way he does your daughter. We have got to find a way of being here for them but still giving them space to work things out on their own."

Jackson thanked Josh and then they both sat together and continued the conversation. It made Jackson realise he himself was opening up more to Josh and their family then he had with anyone in years and years. It felt nice to be able to talk to someone about his daughter and his fears and have them completely understand.

Tony ended up having to grab Michelle by her cheeks and force her to look at him. "I love you sweetheart. I know you are picturing everything that happened but try and look at me and remember that we got through it. We are safe now."

Michelle pushed her head into his shoulder and neck. "How will I ever get those pictures and sounds out of my mind? I've never been so scared in my entire life Tony. What would I have done if I lost you?"

She was in the most awkward position trying to be close to him but also trying not to put any pressure on his chest. He needed them to be close and so he pulled her into his body as much as he could. It did hurt, but it was more than worth it. He held the back of her head and kissed everywhere he could reach. "I don't know baby, I feel the same way. I don't know...I'm just trying to think about nothing but being here with you now in this moment. That we are both safe and have each other."

He could only just make out her telling him she loved him through her sobs. He told her he loved her more than anything in the world and then they stayed like that, just holding each other and crying for a long time. Tony realized he needed this just as much as she did. He needed Michelle. That feeling hit him like a ton of bricks. He had never really 'needed' anyone in his life. To be dependent on someone else, to trust someone else with his heart and need them physically and emotionally was something he had never experienced before. It was overwhelming and ever so powerful. He thought he should be scared but he wasn't, if anything it made him calm. Needing Michelle and knowing that she needed him and that they both wanted that, was the best feeling in the world.

After nearly 15 minutes, Michelle finally pulled back. She had calmed down a lot although tears were still making their way down her cheeks. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying and so were his. "I'm sorry I lost it Tony."

"Don't be sorry, I've lost it to. I don't think I ever needed to be held more than I do right now and that was perfect. Thank you for being here Chelle."

"Thank you baby. We are going to get through this right?"

He wiped a couple tears away with his thumbs. "I promise you that we will. There is going to be lots more tears and it is going to be really hard but we have to just keep talking and looking after each other."

"You know that I'd do anything for you Tony? I am here for you for anything. I want you to always feel like you can talk to me, vent...anything."

He tried to smile, "I do baby, I just watched you put your whole life on the line for me, and I just cried in your arms...something I've never ever done before. You make me feel so comfortable and safe. I just hope you really understand that I am here for you in every way possible as well."

She kissed him on the lips, "I do. I do."

Tony went to pull his gown back down, he wanted to see Michelle but she stopped him. "I haven't finished." She traced her fingers over his chest, "Does this hurt? You have to tell me if I am hurting you."

"It's fine sweetheart."

He watched in surprise as she spent a very long time inspecting every inch of his stomach, chest, arms, neck and head. She traced her fingers everywhere and every few minutes would gently kiss where she was touching and then continue. It made him feel so loved, important and special. It was exactly how he wanted to be with her, how he knew he would be with her and having her be this way to him made him feel better already. As he watched her he day dreamed about them both being better and back at home. She snapped him out of his thoughts, "What about your back Tony?"

"Yeah, I've got some bruises but nothing as bad as my front." It was an effort for him to sit up to show her but he didn't think twice, he was going to expect her to do the same thing in a minute so he went along with everything she asked. Luckily his back wasn't as bad and she helped him to get settled back down again. Then she went to shuffle down the bed so she could check his legs. She moved in a way that sent pain through-out her whole body and she let out a sob. Tony stopped her, "Baby, you have to be careful. You are not ready to be moving like that...I am ok, really."

"No, I want to see...I need to see Tony."

He nodded his head. "Ok, but let me help you." Together they were able to make it so that she could see his legs. It required him moving up the bed and helping to hold her up a little and keep her steady. He only had a couple big bruises on his right leg from being kicked and a couple scrapes but that was it. His legs were in the best condition of his whole body. When she had finished, he helped her again to lie back down again in a position she was comfortable in.

"Nowhere else Tony? Anywhere else you were hurt?"

He looked at her a little confused. "You have just seen every inch of me baby, I'm not..."

"Not every inch of you..." She raised her eyebrows at him. Concern was written all across her face.

He tried to lighten the mood up a little by kissing her on the neck and smiling, "I'll lose the boxers if I need to prove it to you but I promise you that I am just fine."

She smiled back at him but he could see by her slight hesitation that she was deeply worried about him. She looked up and around the room. There was a small window on the door to the room which anyone could look into at anytime, not to mention that the door was unlocked and nurses walked in and out without bothering to knock all the time. He ran his thumb down her cheek and gave her a cheeky grin. "I know what you are thinking..."

She couldn't help but blush and smile back at him.

"And the fact that you have just gone completely red just proves my thinking is correct!"

She let out a little shy giggle. "Tony!"

He kissed her ear and neck.

"What am I thinking?"

He kissed her again. He loved watching her squirm and decided to have a little more fun with it. He lowered his voice. "You are thinking that you want to remove my boxers because you seriously do need to see for yourself that I am ok. Which I completely understand because I feel the same way BUT you are hesitant because you haven't actually really seen _all_ of me yet and that makes you very nervous. Plus you know that someone is likely to walk in the second you've gone and gotten me all naked." He took a deep breath and decided by the way she was smiling and clearly loving the way he was talking to really go for it, "MOST importantly though, you know once you have looked and touched me that you will have started something we can't finish right now..."

"TONY!" She sounded shocked but obviously was loving every word he said.

He laughed.

"You can't do that to me!"

"Do what?" He asked all innocently.

"Speak to me like that in your husky sexy voice and...and...that's totally not fair when you know how much I want you."

He hesitated for a second because she had just stroked his ego completely. Somehow she had managed to completely turn the table on him and now he felt himself going very red. He had to take back the control. He pulled the blanket up to their chests, took her hand and guided it down so that she was holding him in her hand. He kept his hand firmly over hers and pushed down on it as he whispered into her ear. "Will you settle for just feeling that I'm ok because I'm just warning you if you take em off, I'm not going to be able to control myself?"

Michelle kissed him on the lips and then slid her hand from under his up to his boxer line. She laughed when he so obviously flinched and took in a huge breath and then held it as he waited to see what she did. She could feel him growing harder by second and his body was flinching uncontrollably. She slipped her hand inside his boxer shorts and then proceeded to explore him everywhere. Her voice was just above a whisper. "Ok, I'll refrain myself but only because we are in the hospital and I don't want someone barging in. Just know how hard this is for me."

He could barely breathe, never mind talk. Her cheekiness took him by surprise and he absolutely loved it. "Hard for you?"

She gripped him in her hand firmly and nodded her head. She gave him the most sexy, seductive smile he had ever seen.

His voice came out squeaky, "This is you refraining yourself? God, I can't wait until you..." He couldn't even finish the sentence before he leaned down and kissed her passionately. She had him wrapped around her little finger. He was complete putty in her hands. When he felt he go to pull her hand back out he couldn't help himself, he needed to feel her just for a moment longer, he reached his hand back down and put it over hers again and held it in place. That made her moan, turning him on even more and he pushed himself into her hand. "You are going to pay for this sweetheart; my inspection of you is going to have to be very thorough."

Michelle gasped and bit her lip. She couldn't believe the chemistry between them. It felt impossible to stop once they started. The way he was looking at her, the tone of his voice and he was so hard in her hand made her whole body feel weak. "I want you so much Tony. You have..."

The both pulled back so quickly when they heard a knock on the door and it begin to open. Michelle pulled her hand out so fast and rolled her body a bit that it sent pain shooting through her so much she let out a little sob. Tony rolled onto his side a little and tried to comfort her by running his hand down her cheek. "Sorry baby."

They both looked up to see a nurse walk through the door. She looked at them both with sorrow in her eyes. They looked a mess. They had both been clearly crying, Michelle still was. She approached the bed. Tony pulled the covers up and tried to lie on his side as much as he could as he hoped like hell the nurse didn't want to check either of them right now.

The nurse approached Michelle's side of the bed. "How are you feeling dear?"

"Alright."

The nurse looked unconvinced and asked Tony how he was feeling. He replied exactly the same as Michelle.

"Would you both like an injection for pain? You are due. I also will then need to do a set of obs on you both."

Tony spoke for them both, "Yes please, that would be good."

Michelle nodded her head.

The nurse smiled at them. "Ok, let me go organize that for you straight away. I'll be in a couple of minutes."

Once she left the room, Tony and Michelle looked at each other and then laughed. Michelle shook her head, "Oh my god, I thought we were totally busted!"

Tony was smiling. "Well I'm not out of the woods yet and she's going to be back in a minute and is going to want to check us both so for the next few minutes you can't touch me..."

She blushed and laughed. His voice was full of frustration, "And stop looking at me like that!"

"Like what?"

"LIKE THAT! With those beautiful...oh my god Chelle. I'm begging you, help me out here!"

Michelle turned her head away from him, she still had a big smile on her face. "Ok, ok. Let's talk about something else and you look that way and I'll look this way for a minute."

He laughed. "Thank you!"

"So, how do you think Jo is going with all this pregnancy stuff? Do you think your parents are handling it?"

Tony was very grateful, this subject would help. "I actually had a chance to ask mom quickly after I woke up when Dad took Jo to get a drink. She said that they had all talked a lot whilst they have been waiting at the hospital with us and they are slowly getting their heads around it."

"Is Jo ok?"

"Sounds like it, I mean she is going to need a lot of help and support but I am sure just knowing mom and dad are being so good about it would be making it a lot easier."

"Your parents are amazing like that. I can't believe the last few days they have had between you and Jo. They must be going out of their minds."

"Yeah I know, I feel bad. But I also feel closer to them then I have for years. It actually feels really good."

"Yeah, me too with Dad. I mean we have always been close but I have really loved him being here through all this. And I love how well our parents seem to be getting along."

"I know, we are so lucky, it is awesome. You know our Dad's have already planned a golf day?"

"Really?"

"Yup, it's really cool." He took a deep breath. "Ok, you can turn your head back around now. Just DON'T go touching me or looking at me again like that until they come back!"

Michelle turned back and looked at him. "You have my word."

Just before the door opened again, Tony took her hand and held it tightly. His voice became serious. "After they are gone though Chelle, I really need to be able to see you and know how you are doing."

"I know."

"Are you going to be honest about how you really are?"

Michelle looked at him a little shocked, even though she knew damn well he had every right to be wary after the way she had handled things after the bar. "I won't hide anything from you anymore Tony, I promise. It is hard for me though, I can't help how insecure and horrible I feel about it so I need you to be a bit patient with me."

"I will sweetheart. I do understand how hard this is on you. I also know that David kissed and touched you again and we have to talk..."

"Tony..."

"No, I am being serious baby. You have to be able to talk to me about this. You have to be able to face this and the best way to start is by talking to me about it and being able to say what he did and how it makes you feel."

"Did you see and hear it all?"

"Only what the camera picked up but when he was holding you it blocked the camera so I don't really know how he touched you."

"If that Jacob guy didn't come when he did I was going to blow my cover cause I just couldn't handle him touching me a second longer..."

"Trust me Chelle, I was already on my way in, the guys had to hold me back for a moment. There was no way in hell I was going to let him get you behind a closed door."

Before she could respond there was a knock on the door followed by a couple nurses walking back in with their injections. Tony kept a hold of Michelle's hand and tugged it tighter. "I love you, it will be ok."

**Thanks for reading, I hope that you enjoyed it. Please review and let me know what you think, I really appreciate it. Thank you:)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the delay. I hope you like this chapter, it is a long one! I don't own 24. This is for adults only!**

It took close to 25 minutes for the nurses to administer both Tony and Michelle with their pain injections and then check their obs. Michelle spent the whole time slowly becoming more anxious about having to go through everything with Tony as soon as they walked out the door. She thought that maybe she was about to be bought some time when one of the nurses asked as they were walking out the door if it was ok for their parents to come back in now. She went to say yes but Tony beat her to it. "Do you mind asking them to give us a little bit longer alone? You can let them know we are ok, just talking some things through and will be ready shortly."

The nurses told them of course and closed the door behind her.

Michelle sighed, "We can let them come in you know, they are probably going crazy out in the waiting room."

Tony shook his head, "They also know how important it is for us to talk sweetheart. They will be fine waiting a little longer; I need to go over this with you."

She wanted to protest but she knew that wasn't fair. He had just shown her every inch of himself and been so wonderfully patient and amazing with her as she checked him out, it was only fair that she gave him the same back. She just wished it didn't feel so hard.

Tony could see hesitation all across her face and he watched as her hands clenched up into little fists. He rolled on his side again a little towards her and then used his fingers to gently open her hand back up, "I know you are scared sweetheart, I am too but I need this. I can't talk to anyone else or even try and start moving forward until we do this, can you understand?"

She nodded her head and looked him in the eyes, "Yeah, it's exactly how I felt Tony so I know...I'm just nervous."

He was nodding his head showing her he understood. Even though the covers were still up around their chests, he slid his hand down and began to pull her gown to the side. Just as he started to do this, Michelle realized that she had absolutely nothing on underneath the gown. She instinctively grabbed his hand to stop him. "I just...I just realized I don't have anything on underneath Tony?"

He wasn't quite sure what to say. They stared at each other for a moment before she asked him, "Why don't I have any underwear on? Where are they?"

He shook his head, "I don't know baby. I am assuming they were removed when you were taken into surgery..."

"What? They would do that?"

He felt terrible for her. He could see how vulnerable she was and he really felt lost as to how to handle the situation. Again before he said anything she spoke, "But you had your boxers on? Did you have them on when you woke up?"

"No baby I didn't, I had to ask for them. There must have been a good reason for it though. When they examined you during surgery..."

Michelle's voice became different. He couldn't tell if it was embarrassment, vulnerability or anger. "Tony, did they use a rape kit or something on me? I didn't think they were allowed to do anything like that unless I gave permission."

"Sweetheart, by the time they got you to the hospital you were in a really bad way. Can you remember at the house that I was having trouble trying to get you to even keep your eyes open? I honestly don't know to what extent they examined you but of course they would have had to check everywhere they could see that you may have been hurt."

Rationally she knew that. She just felt caught off guard by the whole thing and it made her feel sick to think of a pile of doctors and nurses examining her like that when she was out cold. It made her wonder what had been said to her dad and she felt violated all over again. She was a very private person, she hated even going bra shopping so the thought of strangers and people she knew looking, thinking or talking about her in that way was really hard to tolerate.

She had no idea why she said it, where it came from or what she was thinking, it just rolled off her tongue, "I've never had a one night stand or anything like that before you know Tony."

He looked at her confused. He could feel the injection starting to kick in and his mind wasn't nearly as sharp as he needed it to be right now. Her voice became a little quieter, "I don't know why I just said that...I just...it takes a lot for me to 'open' up to anyone and I feel so exposed the last few days. It's not me..."

He knew she was struggling, he hated knowing how this was all making her feel and he wished he had an answer for her that would make everything seem ok. "I love that you are private like that Chelle. It makes me feel so special that you have let me hold you, touch you, see you...I completely understand how uncomfortable all of this must make you feel but I need you to try and remember that the doctors wouldn't have done anything unless they had to..."

He felt the grip of her hand loosen on his, "I know..."

It was awkward because he couldn't really move her gown to the side without her being completely exposed to him straight away. He had intended on taking it very slow with her and working his way from her neck down but there wasn't really a way of doing that. Knowing that they had removed her underwear had also started to make him go crazy imagining what might have happened. He couldn't help himself, "Baby, he touched you there didn't he?"

He was surprised when she nodded her head. He had expected to have to go back and forth with her but he figured the injection was making her drop her guard. He tried not to let his facial expression match how he was feeling. He didn't want to freak her out but he could feel himself getting angrier and angrier at David. He kept going, this time he pulled her in a little closer and spoke in a very gentle tone, "Did he put his fingers inside..."

"NO! Tony..."

He stopped, he was about to apologize for being so blunt but she beat him to it, "You have to believe me when I tell you he did not put his hands inside my underwear. He grabbed me roughly for a moment but that was over my clothes. He didn't..."

He soothed her, "I believe you sweetheart. Thank god..."

"I hate the thought of you even thinking about another man doing that to me Tony and I wouldn't have let him do that, I wasn't prepared to not blow my cover for him to do that..."

He kissed her sweetly. "I know baby, I know. I never want to have to think about another man being able to touch you. I am so sorry he did what he did, I'd have killed him for that alone. You're mine and..." His voice trailed off as he hoped he hadn't just stepped over the line claiming her like that.

She surprised him in the best way possible when she actually smiled at him a little, "I am yours..."

He couldn't help a big grin spreading across his face at her words. He loved hearing her say that. He loved that she smiled when she did and he was even more relieved when she completely let go of her grip on his hand like she was giving him the 'ok' to proceed.

He gently slid her gown completely to the side. He watched as she held her breath as he then began to move their covers so that he could see her. He felt shivers run down his body as he saw her naked for the first time and he knew he had never in his life felt so 'taken', so in love, so mesmerized by a body as he was by Michelle's. Her eyes were closed and he leant down and kissed her on the lips. "You are stunning...the most beautiful woman in the world sweetheart. Please look at me."

She slowly opened her eyes and looked back at him. "Tony..."

He ran his hand up her thigh gently, "No, I mean it Chelle. My heart is pounding a million miles a second, every inch of you drives me insane. I never knew it was possible to be as attracted to someone as I am to you. You are my absolute fantasy."

No one had ever said anything like that to Michelle ever. Not even close and it made her heart flutter and her body flinch. "No one has ever said anything like that to me before...you know I feel the same way about you, right?"

He grinned. Her words were a little slurred and he thought his were as well. They were staring at each other like giddy teenagers. "I love you..."

"I love you more than you could ever imagine Tony."

He let out a little groan and then shifted his gaze back down to her body. He could see a bruise at the top of her inner thigh and he cringed at how roughly David must have grabbed her. He ran his hand right up to the bruise and ever so gently traced his fingers over it. He could feel her body flinching a little. "Is this ok baby?"

She nodded her head. "Yeah..." She had closed her eyes again.

"Can you look Chelle? You are going to have to be able to look at this and I'd rather you did with me for the first time."

Michelle opened her eyes and looked down to Tony's hand that was gently resting right at the top of her inner thigh, his fingers were so close to her that as he traced a little more the back of his knuckles briefly touched her. She didn't know how to feel. On one hand, having Tony Almeida touching her and being so close to her like that was something she had yearned for, for the past year. On the other, she could see a dark bruise that he was slowly tracing and that knowing that mark was from another man's hands made her feel icky. She had no idea what to say.

When he could see she was unsure of what to say and he could see confusion on her face her pressed her. "Are you uncomfortable with me touching you here sweetheart? Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt and you don't make me feel uncomfortable Tony...I guess I just wish so desperately the first time you saw me like this wasn't in this situation."

He moved his hand to another part of the bruise and again briefly touched her, she knew he hadn't meant to touch her there, it had just been the way his hand had moved but it still made her flinch a little. Tony had shocked himself a little as he hadn't meant to go that high, it had barely been a second but it still made his heart beat a little faster. "Sorry...I didn't mean..."

"That's ok...I'm ok."

He smiled. "I wish this wasn't how this was happening for the first time as well sweetheart, I know how you feel. It does make me feel closer to you though if that is any help? What's happening, what has happened and how we are trying to get through it together is making me feel closer to you than I ever thought possible. If things had gone the way we wanted and I had taken you to dinner and a movie...I can guarantee we wouldn't have been so open and raw with each other so quickly."

"That's true." He had made her smile a little. "In some ways I feel like I have been with you forever with how close I feel to you. Tony? What do you think that dinner and a movie date would have been like?"

"To be honest, had I come and picked you up and had the guts to tell you how gorgeous you are and kiss you...I doubt we would have even gotten to dinner. I have a lot of pent up sexual frustration from wanting you all year that I'd be lying if I said I would have been able to sit through a whole dinner and movie without kissing you...touching you...trying to be as close as possible to you."

She loved how honest he was with her. How flirty he was, how they had managed to remain professional around each other all year, she had no idea. Once they had agreed on their 'date' she had immediately skipped all of that in her head and began to allow herself to think about being intimate with Tony. She had figured she would have trouble not jumping him the second he came to her door. "I'm the same baby. I don't think I even thought about the actual date part...I was just thinking about being with you."

He felt a shiver run down his spine. He titled his head, ran his hand right across her to the inside of her other thigh and held her a little more firmly. "So you wouldn't have thought I was a total sleaze or jerk if I had pounced on you straight away?" He was smiling at her with a cheeky grin.

"Are you kidding me? I would have loved it..."

Tony could clearly tell his voice was slurred and so was hers. He had lost all inhabitations and was just saying what was on the tip of his tongue before he thought anything through, "So there is a chance I might have been the one that got to be your first one night stand...not that it would have been a just one night but you know what I mean..."

Michelle giggled. "Without sounding easy...I can't imagine I would have had the will power to wait with you. BUT that's just because it is you Tony...I'm not usually..."

He leaned up and kissed her to stop her from finishing. Then he whispered, "I know sweetheart. Trust me, I know."

They kissed again and he ran his hand up and down her leg a little. It was taking all of his will power not to do what he really wanted but he knew she wasn't well enough and this wasn't the time or place. When he finally did get the chance, he intended on taking his time and exploring every inch of her, spending forever making her feel as good as possible. He hadn't realized he had groaned in frustration out loud until he heard Michelle ask him what was wrong. He moved his hand up and rested it on her hip and dropped his head into the crook of her neck. "Do you know how hard it is for me to be this close to you and not be able to do what I want?"

Her voice was a little shy but clearly excited, "What do you want to be doing?"

"I'm feeling pretty stoned here Chelle and feel like I have absolutely no filter..."

She laughed a little, "Me too, I feel high. I want to know what you want to be doing though..."

He groaned again. "Using my fingers to open you up, sliding them inside you and then tasting you...using my tongue to suck and lick you whilst pushing my fingers deeper and deeper inside you..."

She couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. She knew the drugs were making them say things they wouldn't normally have the courage to say but she loved it. Hearing him describe what he wanted to do to her turned her on and made her body desperate for him in a way she didn't think possible. "Sounds like you have thought about this..."

"Only a million times every day." He hesitated, "God, these drugs are strong, I..."

She kissed him. "I love it. Do you know how much I love hearing you talk to me like that Tony? Then what happens? What do you want me to do to you?"

He gave her another cheeky grin, this time though she could see a flash of shyness coming through. "You know what I want from you. After you said what you would do to me when we spoke before the mission...I can't stop picturing it. That is of course if you still want to do that, I wouldn't..."

"Tony, I can't wait to have you in my mouth. I am going to show you just how much I want you, I'm going to pin your hands to the bed and only use my mouth until you explode..."

Tony felt himself become as hard as a rock and he pushed himself against the side of her leg as he moaned. "Fucking hell Chelle. You are killing me..."

"Or you can put your hands on my head and guide me to do exactly what you want..."

"Jesus baby...I'm gonna come just hearing you talk to me like this." He pushed himself into her again, harder this time. "Tell me you want me Chelle. Tell me you want me to make love to you..."

"Tony, I want you so much. I've wanted you to make love to me since the day we met. I want you to take control and I'll do whatever you want...I just need to be with you."

He knew he should stop before he seriously couldn't but this was fast becoming one of the best conversations he had ever had and hearing this side to Michelle was driving him absolutely wild. He thought about how innocent she seemed at work and how hearing her now was blowing every fantasy he had out of the water. He pushed for more. "Just promise me one thing...cause I've thought about it a lot. When we are better and I can have my way with you...will you let me lay you on my counter, stretched out naked in front of me and..."

He had a brief rush of nerves as he thought about how full on they were talking but she egged him on, "And..."

"I want to spread your legs open, have you wrap them around my waist as I take you..."

Oh my God, yes...anything. And I want you to..." She stopped, having brief flashes through her mind of how out of it she was, how she had never spoken to anyone like this, never mind Tony Almeida and how this was so far from the way she would ever speak. She wondered if the drugs were a good thing or is she was going to be humiliated when she snapped out of this trance she was on.

She felt him push himself into her side again. "Don't leave me hanging sweetheart...say it..."

"I am so high Tony. I've never spoken this way before, I can't believe what has come out of my mouth..."

"Me either baby, but I'm loving it. Just tell me what you have imagined...I want to hear you say it..."

She sighed, this man had exceeded any sexual experience she had ever had and they had barely done anything. Who knew a few admissions could be so powerful. She decided to go for it. "I want you to lean me over your bathroom counter, in front of the mirror. I want to see the look in your eyes as you make love to me and I want to be able to see as you hold my breasts in your hands and explore my body..."

"Fucking hell...shit! That will be amazing. I want to see the expression on your face as I push myself as deep as possible inside you. I want you to beg me to go harder and faster and I want to be able to watch myself finally getting to have my way with you."

"I don't think I have ever been more turned on in my life Tony, hearing you speak to me like this..."

Just as Michelle was finishing her sentence the door flung open. Tony quickly pulled the covers up a little and then his body felt parallelized as he was left pushed into her, staring at her, desperate to hear the end of what she was going to say.

They couldn't take their eyes off each other, it felt like they were staring into each other's soul as everything got bought to a grinding halt and they were left hanging. Thinking about everything they had just said. Tony couldn't even bring himself to look up to see who had walked in the door. The world had been blocked out and all he could see, think or feel was Michelle.

It was a nurse. She crossed the room and rummaged around in the cabinets on the other side of the room for a couple of minutes. When it became clear she wasn't going to leave straight away, Tony pulled his body away from Michelle's a little. He was so turned on that he needed to calm down. He felt his face become so red and he tried to think about anything else so that if the nurse came over to them he wasn't going to be completely humiliated and busted. Michelle helped him by pulling her hands out of the covers and resting them on the outside and then shifting her gaze over to the nurse, dropping eye contact with him.

When the nurse had found what she was looking for, she made her way over to the bed. She came over to Michelle's side. "How are you both feeling?"

Michelle spoke for them both. "Pretty out of it. That is some strong stuff you gave us before."

"And your pain? Is it under control?"

They both nodded their heads. "Yes, thank you."

"Ok, well, it has been nearly half an hour and I need to do another set of obs so I will be back in just a few minutes with one of the other nurses, ok?"

"Sure."

As she made her way back to the door she turned around and looked at them, her voice was kind and caring, "And Michelle, the doctor is on his way up shortly to talk to you. There are some more tests he would like to run on you but needs your permission first."

The door closed behind them. Michelle sighed and looked back at Tony, "Fucking great...you know exactly what that's going to be about!"

Tony felt everything come crashing back to reality. He cupped her cheek with his hand, "I'm here for you Chelle. You don't have to go through anything alone, ok?"

She nodded her head, "Thanks Tony."

They stared at each other for another few moments before he finally broke the silence. "Ummm are you ok? I mean with what just happened? I got so carried away...I meant everything I said, I just can't believe I actually spoke those words out loud..."

"Me either, that was incredibly intense but I loved it. I can't explain how good you manage to make me feel. You just made me forget about everything else that has happened and I was utterly lost in you. How do you do it Tony?"

"Do what?"

"Make me forget everything else? Make me feel like we are in our own little world where everything is just perfect, everything I've always wanted...happy..."

Tony's eyes felt watery. "Sweetheart, it's you. It is what you do to me. I can't control myself around you, I am lost in you. I just love you so much, all I want is you to be happy."

"You make me happy Tony." She giggled a little. "God, I feel so like...naughty or something. I can't believe what I said...but it was all true, all what I have thought about, just never thought I would have the guts to ever say them out loud."

Tony laughed with her. "Me too. These pain injections are excellent! Although, I hope now...now we have been honest that you always feel safe and comfortable enough to tell me anything. That is a conversation I want to finish and some promises I want to make good on...as soon as we can get ourselves out of this place and I have you all to myself at home."

Michelle stuck her hand out to shake his, he took it and laughed. "Deal! You have my word. Get us out of here and I am all yours."

He leaned in and kissed her. "I love you Michelle Dessler, I am completely and utterly in love with you."

She felt a happy tear roll down her cheek. "You have my whole heart Tony, I love you more than I ever thought it was possible. It is the best feeling in the whole world."

"It sure as hell is. I've loved getting to know you so well over the past year baby but now that I have you in my life like this, I want to spend every day making you happy, looking after you and giving you everything you want."

She kissed him back. "You already do."

The watched each other and smiled for another few moments before there was a knock at the door. Tony looked up, made sure they were both covered and then said 'come in.'

It was Jackson, followed by Josh. It was obvious how concerned they both were. Their faces were pale and drawn and both men looked exhausted. Jackson came and pulled up a chair beside Michelle.

"I know you both need some time...space together but unfortunately this can't wait. The doctor is on his way up and I need to talk to you Chelle."

Michelle smiled for her Dad even though her heart was sinking. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Jackson looked up at Josh and Tony then back at Michelle. She could see he wasn't sure if she would want them in the room or not. "It's ok Dad, anything you need to say you can tell me in front of Tony...and Josh. They have both been through everything with me, couldn't be worse then what they have already seen or heard right?"

Jackson cleared his throat. He had already discussed this with Josh after the doctors had spoken to him hours earlier. Josh had been amazing at helping him to find a way of dealing with the situation. "Ok, it is just that when you were bought into the hospital you were fairly out of it. Can you remember anything?"

Michelle was a little confused, "From when? The house or arriving at the hospital?"

"The hospital Michelle. Well anything from the ambulance to when you went into surgery...can you remember anything that was said or happened?"

She could feel her heart beginning to beat faster and faster. "I don't quite understand, I thought I was completely out of it? I don't remember anything."

Jackson took her hand in his. "You were in and out of consciousness Chelle. You answered some questions that were asked but by the time it came to taking you into the operating room you were deemed unfit to..."

Michelle didn't like where this was heading. She cut him off, "What? Just say it? Does this have anything to do with these other tests the doctor wants to do?"

Jackson looked up at Josh for a second and then back at his daughter. He ended up just blurting it out, stumbling on every word. "They need to do an internal examination sweetheart. One for victims of sexual assault. However they need your permission and you wouldn't give it. They then asked me as I am your father and I have power of attorney but you asked me to say no. I didn't feel right at the time agreeing to it when you begged me like that, however now that you are awake and aware of the situation, I need...we all need you to agree to this Chelle."

Michelle's eyes bulged open. She looked at Tony whose eyes were full of tears, she felt him grab her other hand. She immediately became defensive. "What exactly did I say? I don't need a rape kit and I'm not having one."

"Darling, you were asked if you were assaulted...if he touched you, hurt you and you answered yes. I have been told that you have bruises that suggest he forced himself on you and..."

Michelle felt like she was going to explode. "Everyone knows he grabbed me, touched me but he didn't get that far!"

Josh spoke up, trying to help Jackson out. "When the doctors tried to prep you for surgery Michelle, you became so upset at anyone touching you or looking at you that in the end you had to be sedated just to get you into the gown. You yelled at them that you didn't want one more person touching you. I asked you if you had pain there and you said yes."

Her eyes were closed shut tight, trying to block everything out. "So what are you saying you all don't believe me? I was out of it, I didn't know what I was saying that so it doesn't count! And of course I was in pain."

Jackson had tears streaming down his cheeks. "It is not about us not believing you sweetheart, it is about making sure you get the help you need. I need you to be able to trust us, talk to us so that we can help you."

Josh continued on from Jackson, "And this is not just about an internal examination Michelle, this is about being treated for the assault emotionally and physically. It seems like the situation...both times...were completely out of control and you can't expect to handle that on your own. It is going to be ok Chelle, we can all help you through this..."

She didn't know what to do. She felt so angry and she hated that she couldn't remember ever even being asked questions or what she had said, it made her feel out of control. "What exactly did I say?"

Josh slightly shook his head. "Enough Chelle for us to know that..."

She cut him off, even though she had asked she couldn't actually bare to hear the answer. She turned to Tony, "You know Tony, the whole thing was filmed. You said so yourself that you would have stormed the house had he gotten me into the room so you know that nothing happened."

He was in hell. Her eyes were begging him to agree with her and be on her side but he couldn't bring himself to. "Baby, I know he didn't have a chance to take you into the room, but I did tell you that the camera was blocked when he was holding you and we couldn't tell what was going on. Remember I said that the guys had to stop me at one point from rushing in cause I didn't know..."

His voice trailed off as he saw a look of hurt and betrayal in her eyes at him. He felt sick to his stomach. He looked at his Dad and at Jackson who looked on the edge of a nervous breakdown. He needed to know what Michelle had said when she was bought into the hospital. Had things been worse the night before than she had admitted? Had something happened when he had left the cameras to storm the place before he found her?

Michelle felt her whole chest becoming so tight she felt like she couldn't breathe. "I can't believe this. It feels like it doesn't matter what I say now, you all won't believe me. I was hurt and scared to death before when I was bought in, I was totally out of it...whatever I said doesn't mean anything, I'm telling you that I'm ok. You can't hold that against me..."

Tony's voice came out louder and more defensive taking them all by surprise a little. "Nothing is being held against you Chelle it's also not going to be ignored..."

He was cut off by the doctor, James walking in. James could hear the arguing before he had opened the door and one look on all their faces explained everything. He had been the doctor that had attended to Michelle when she was bought in and he was the doctor that had spoken to her father. He introduced himself to Michelle and Tony and apologized for interrupting them. When the room went silent after he spoke, he took another step closer to them all. "Aaahh Michelle, I am assuming that you have been informed that I am requesting for more tests to be done?"

Michelle tried to keep her voice calm. "Yeah but I don't need them and I do not give my permission for anything else..."

"Michelle, please I need you to rethink this. You have been through a very traumatic situation and..."

"NOTHING HAPPENED!"

"Well that's just simply not true Michelle. A lot of things have happened...not just once but 2 different times. Do you remember talking to me before you were taken into surgery?"

She had been caught off guard that he was being so blunt. He was speaking in a very caring and soothing tone but he wasn't letting her get away with anything. She couldn't look at him, she couldn't look at anyone. "No..."

He felt terrible for her that she was in this position. Clearly her family cared for her and was trying to be there for her but he knew how hard this must be on her to talk about. He was use to victims denying everything. He tried to sound as sensitive as he could when he spoke, "I outright asked you if you had been sexually assaulted Michelle and you said yes. You would become so incredibly upset when we tried to undress you and prep you for surgery that I had to sedate you in the end. I do understand how you are feeling right now but we can make this a little better for you if you try to let us in?"

"Everyone knows I was assaulted. I'm not denying that he touched me but he didn't do what you are thinking. I'm sorry if I caused a scene before but after the last 2 missions I don't want strangers looking at me or touching me, surely you can understand that?"

"Please don't apologize for anything. You are incredibly brave and strong and a hero from what I have heard...saving all those women. Women I have been treating since you were all bought in by the way and you really did save their lives Michelle. Maybe things got a little more out of hand the first night than anyone realized..." He didn't know that, he had just thought that it was a big possibility and wanted to see how she reacted to him saying that.

"No...I told the truth." She made herself look at Tony, she could see that he was very confused and didn't know what to be thinking. "Tony?"

He kept holding her hand. He ignored the last part and asked her his own question. He knew Michelle better than anyone and he knew how to get answers from her. "I know that after how close we are, that you love me so much sweetheart that you will be able to tell me the truth, no matter how hard it is. You have the chance to put me out of my misery here Chelle, make me stop imagining a million different scenarios...you don't want me hurt or upset do you?" He felt like he was manipulating her a little bit, that it wasn't fair to turn this around and make it about him and he felt numb inside for doing that but he also knew her well enough to know that by making it about someone else, not her, she was more likely to tell them what they needed to hear.

"Of course I don't Tony; you know I don't want to hurt you..."

He felt even worse when she responded and like that and at the same time began to cry. He reached out and gently wiped some tears from her cheeks with his thumb. He took a deep breath and kept going, wanting this to just be over. "When David grabbed you when you came out of the bathroom on this last mission. How was he holding you?"

Everyone was surprised that Michelle seemed so intent on not upsetting Tony anymore that she finally started to talk and instead of her voice sounding defensive and angry, her tone was scared and quiet. "He ran his hands all over me roughly..."

"Your breasts Michelle?"

She nodded her head and continued to cry.

"And during this he grabbed you, the bruise I just saw, was that from then?"

"Yeah..."

"Did he put his hands inside your pants sweetheart?" He held his breath. She had stopped looking at him and was covering her eyes with her hand.

"No. Last night when I had a skirt on he put his hand up my skirt and grabbed at my underwear and grabbed at me but I fell to the ground because he was hurting me so much. This time it was just quickly for a moment...over my pants, I swear."

Everyone felt themselves sigh in relief a little but also their hearts felt heavy at hearing what he had done. Jackson was in hell hearing this but was trying to be strong. He told her he loved her. He watched as Tony went to try and get her to put her hand down from her eyes but she wouldn't and he didn't push it.

Tony kept leading the situation. "You are doing great baby. What else happened then? Did he kiss you?"

"Yes. I tried to pull back but I couldn't and then Jacob walked in and that's when he seemed to just..." She stopped herself.

Tony gently encouraged her to keep going.

Michelle couldn't hold back anymore, she felt like she was going to vomit as she thought about what David had done and that she was about to have to say it out loud, in front of Tony and her father. She pushed the palms of her hands into her eyes, trying to hide and trying to stop the tears. Her voice became broken by sobs, "I hate him so much. I hate him. How could he do it? How could anyone be like that?"

Tony couldn't hold back tears anymore seeing her like this. She sounded so vulnerable and scared and Tony felt like he had pushed her into this dark hole. He felt responsible for pulling her out. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry sweetheart..."

"Why do you need to hear this? Why does my Dad need to hear this? It's not going to make anyone feel better..."

Jackson put his hand on her forehead and gently stroked it. He had never seen his daughter like he had today and it broke his heart more than anything had in his life. His voice was also broken down. "Because I love you Chelle. You are everything to me and I need you to know that I am here for you...that we all are. All I care about is finding a way to help you feel better and I know that if you can just talk to us, share with us what you have been through then we will know better how to help you. Please you are doing so well...can you keep going?"

Tony wished she would let him hold her, he needed to have her close but her guard was up and she wouldn't move her hands from her eyes. "I love you baby, we all love you..."

After a few moments of trying to catch enough breath to speak again she finally began to speak again. "He grabbed me by the arms, so hard I thought they were just going to snap off. Then when Jacob walked in he spun me around so that I was facing Jacob and he was behind me. Jacob was looking straight at us. That's when David, right in front of this other man, started to grab at my...at my...at my chest as roughly as he could. His hands groped me everywhere and this other guy just kept standing there talking to him. Like I was nothing, like I was just a piece of useless meat. He didn't care what David was doing or that he was hurting me and it was like David was showing this guy how little he thought of me. Finally when this guy started to reveal too much in front of me David yelled at him to stop and that's when he spun me around again and told me to wait for him, that he would be back."

All the men in the room felt horrible. They could completely understand how bad that must have made her feel, how degrading it was. Tony couldn't stand it anymore, he had never felt more useless in his life just having to watch her hysterical and not be comforting her. He grabbed her hands and pulled them away from her eyes and at the same time pulled her body up into his. He was surprised that instead of fighting him, as soon as he had gotten her hands away from her eyes she buried her face into his shoulder and gripped onto him as hard as she could. He was so relieved. He knew she was still hiding her face from everyone but it didn't matter as much now that she was letting him hold her. He repeated how much he loved her, how brave she was and how special she was. Jackson rubbed her back and shoulders and told her the same thing. They needed to let her grieve this now and they were all responsible for doing anything in the world they could to support her.

James asked Jackson and Josh to step outside with him for a moment. Michelle didn't even seem to notice as her head was still buried into Tony's shoulder and she was crying. Once outside the door Jackson let out a large sob and Josh grabbed his shoulder, "I'm so sorry Jackson, that was hell to hear and I can only imagine how hard that must have been for you."

He was shaking his head. "I just don't know what the hell to do for her. What am I supposed to do?"

James cleared his throat, "She will get through this. She has an amazing support system around her and I strongly believe with Michelle most of this is about making her drop her guard and feel comfortable to talk about it. She is so determined to be strong that she needs to understand that it is ok to be hurt and affected by all this..."

Josh nodded his head, "What about the test? I believe Michelle that things only went as far as she has said..."

"Well this is where it is difficult. I believe from the video footage they have and from what she has said matches her injuries and makes sense that nothing more happened. The only question mark is the night before. I don't want to put her through the examination if she doesn't need it and is willing to seek emotional support and help for everything that she has been through BUT..."

"You heard her though, she will never agree to it anyways..."

"True, however you do have the ability to force her to have the examination. So does CTU, she simply would be deemed unfit to return to work if she didn't get the medical attention requested."

Josh shook his head. "That feels really unfair. I would be all for it if I thought she had to have it or that she wasn't talking to us but she has. She was in he worst possible situation when she and Tony came back to his apartment the other night when I treated her...I was mortified at how hard it must have been on her and Tony and I really had to push her to open up with us but I want to be fair on Michelle that she did end up telling us what happened and putting her trust in us to help..."

Jackson was nodding his head, "I agree. Even though we might have to push her, she is really trying to do the right thing. You saw her in there. As soon as she thought that she was making the situation worse on Tony or hurting him she completely caved and spoke up. I thought we were going to go back and forth for a long time but Tony clearly knew the best way to make her talk..."

Tony was still holding Michelle, he had dropped his head into her neck and was content just holding her. She was calming down and he took the time to speak to her before everyone came back in. "I am really sorry I just did that to you Chelle."

"Did what?"

"Turned the situation around and made it about me so that you would talk, even if you were not ready to." His voice was tight and restricted as he was overcome with guilt for manipulation the situation because he knew how she felt about him. As glad as he was that it had worked and she had talked, he didn't know if it was the right thing for him to have done.

She took a few deep breaths. "Do you believe me?"

"Yes I do, of course I do baby. I was just thrown for 6 when I heard what happened when you were bought into the hospital. I had no idea that they had questioned you. I hate thinking about how upset you must have been and I wasn't with you. That must have been horrible and I can only imagine how scared and lonely you felt..."

"I don't really remember it Tony. I can't have you or my Dad thinking something else happened when it didn't. It's bad enough you have to think about what did happen but it makes me feel sick to think that any of you might be thinking even worse than that..."

"Can I see your arms sweetheart?"

He felt her body stiffen in his arms and she hadn't moved her head. He could tell she was trying to figure out what to do. He pushed her again. "Will you look at me? Don't hide from me baby..." At the same time as he spoke he tried to gently pull her back so he could see her face.

Michelle allowed Tony to move her body. She didn't want to, she felt like hiding from everyone but realistically she knew she didn't really have a choice. She couldn't stay in his shoulder for the rest of her life. She kept her eyes down and when he was looking at her she spoke quietly, trying to be as honest with him as she could, "I feel humiliated Tony. It is hard enough with you but to know how your dad and my dad must be thinking..."

"All they are thinking is how much they love you Chelle and don't want to see you in pain..."

"That's not true and you know it. The same as you, they are picturing David and what happened. Soon I'll have to debrief with CTU and then they will all know. How will any of them look at me the same again?"

"Why are you so sure Chelle that everyone will be thinking negatively about you? Why can't you see that people will be thinking about how brave and strong you were, what a good thing you did for all those women?"

"I don't know..."

"Maybe you need to go down and visit some of those women, then it will really hit home what a good thing you did, then you will be able to start putting some of this in perspective."

"Jeez Tony, you make it sound like it is so simple."

"Maybe it is simple Chelle. You are carrying this around like you have done something wrong...like you should be ashamed of yourself and I can't stand it."

She pulled away from him. It felt like all of a sudden he was being really harsh on her and she didn't understand. "Sorry you feel that way. You don't understand though Tony."

"What don't I understand?"

"Why are you being like this? You seriously can't understand why I feel embarrassed right now?"

"I do understand Chelle but I wish you could also try and see how amazing you are. There are other people involved in this that need to take blame for what happened as well...you think you get to carry the burden for the whole thing?"

"What?"

"I was in charge both nights Chelle and you don't think I feel like I let you down big time? Like I should have protected you a fuck load more than I did?"

"Oh my god Tony! What more exactly do you think you could have ever done? You are going to act like I am thinking negatively about myself and going about this all wrong but you are just as bad as me!"

Both of their voices were raised now and he couldn't believe how quickly the situation had gotten out of control but he couldn't help himself. He was having trouble dealing with everything and he was lashing out on her. Deep down he felt like he wanted her to yell at him, blame him for what happened so maybe then she wouldn't feel so bad about herself. "Bullshit!"

She was completely thrown off guard when he said that to her. His voice was so angry she couldn't believe it. She didn't understand what was happening, it felt like all of a sudden he had become so angry with her. She moved away from him so that none of their bodies were touching anymore. "If you are angry at me Tony, just tell me what for. Don't do this..."

"You are angry at me Michelle. You have to fucking well be." He went to move closer to her but she pulled away from him, enraging him even more. He knew he was losing it, nothing in his head made sense right now. "What? Now I can't even fucking touch you?"

She didn't get it. Why would he want to touch her when he was yelling at her like this? "What do you want Tony? You want to hold me close whilst you yell at me some more?"

He shook his head and it looked like he was going to explode. He tried to take her hand again in his but she pushed it away. He knew how he felt but he had no idea how to articulate it to her and he didn't know why she couldn't just understand.

"I would never have just said all that stuff to you Tony if I knew how you really felt."

"Said what stuff?"

"About being with you!"

He choked on his words. "You regret that now?"

"I regret opening myself up to you and saying all that stuff when clearly you are so angry with me at the moment. I actually thought we were so close...yet now I don't even understand what is going on."

"You can't take that back! You can't make me feel that way and then take it away from me. I meant everything I said!" He had lost control of the situation and he hated it. He knew he wasn't making sense and in some ways felt like a child for the way he was behaving but he had lost his temper and simply didn't know how to make sense of his feelings.

"I never said I didn't mean it Tony!"

"What did you mean then? Do you want to be with me or not?"

She looked at him so confused. She had no idea what the hell he wanted from her and it felt like it didn't matter what she said right now anyways he wasn't going to be happy. Maybe after hearing what had happened had really been too much for him? She began to try and slide her body off the bed. She didn't know where she was going or what she was doing but she felt like if she continued to stay there like that it was just going to make everything worse. He just seemed to be getting more and more angry and worked up.

Tony couldn't believe it when she started to get up off the bed. He watched in silence for a few seconds as he saw her slim frame and back exposed from the gown. Her back was black and blue and as she pushed herself off he could see the clearest handprint on her arm. He could actually make out each single finger mark and it was so large on her small arm that it completely wrapped around her doubling up so that 2 finger prints were next to each other. He thought he was going to vomit. "Oh my god..."

She looked at his eyes and she could see the horror on his face as he looked at her. She looked down at her arm and saw for the first time the marks and she was shocked. She instinctively went to cover it with her hand. She felt her body sway as she became unsteady and she felt light headed. She started to cry, "that's right Tony, disgusting isn't it? For the first time you forgot to pretend like it's not bad!"

He felt the biggest lump in his throat. He couldn't believe how much he loved her. It hit him like a ton of bricks how horrible it was for the first time since all this happened to have her upset with him. To have her actually try to be moving away from him because of how he had acted. How the hell had he just let all this happen? "STOP IT! Stop moving Chelle. You are not allowed to get up, you are not well enough." She didn't listen to him and continued to move. He tried again, "I'm sorry, please stop it."

The door burst open and Josh came flying in with Jackson. They hesitated for a brief moment when they got the shock of their lives to see Michelle up like that. She looked like she was about to fall flat on her face. Jackson ran to her side and held her, "What the hell is going on?"

"I need to leave...I want to go Dad." She started crying and struggled in his arms to move.

He held her close and looked over at Tony for answers. He knew straight away he wasn't going to get one, Tony looked worse than she did. He looked completely broken and lost. Josh was trying to get Tony to calm down and talk to him. All that came out of his mouth was that he was 'sorry'.

Jackson couldn't believe how small and light Michelle was in his arms. She seemed smaller than ever and he could see all of her back and arms and it sunk in how bad she was. He barely knew where or how to hold her without hurting her. He finally got her so he could see her face and he held one cheek, "What's wrong sweetheart?"

"I don't know. Tony's so angry at me. I told you all that I shouldn't have said anything! Look what's happened!"

None of this made any sense. He looked at Tony and Josh. Finally Tony was able to speak. "I'm not Chelle. I don't understand how you are not angry with me?"

"I am angry Tony...I am!"

"No." He shook his head and tried to keep his voice calm. "Not for this, for everything else. I don't understand how you can take on all the blame, think less of yourself after how amazing you were and yet me, the person that didn't protect you and let you down, you pretend like I am not responsible for anything. And now, you tell me you wish you had never said of those things to me. You let me think I had you and yet you regret telling me all that stuff...you wouldn't even let me touch you!"

She yelled back at him. "You are twisting everything! I never said I regretted saying that to you. I just hated that I felt so fucking close to you 10 minutes ago...closer to anyone I ever had and then all of a sudden you are so angry with me. You can't expect me to open up to you and then push me away. AND I saw the way you just looked at me. All this time you act like you see right past the bruises and that it is ok and when you are caught off guard I could see how horrified you were..."

The men let them have it out. Clearly this is what they needed. On one hand they wanted give them privacy but Jackson knew he couldn't let Michelle go, he was holding all of her weight now and he knew she would be on the ground if he let go.

"Sad Chelle...Sad! Am I not allowed to feel sad when I see how hurt you are? You were hysterical when you saw how hurt I was, why the hell do you think it is any different from how it makes you feel? It hurts me, it doesn't disgust me, and there is a major fucking difference!"

Finally she stopped yelling. His words hit her and she understood. She hadn't thought twice when she burst into tears over his injuries yet she had expected him to act like he was fine seeing hers. "Please Tony, just tell me why you are so angry?"

"I just am! I don't know why, I just lost it. I'm not angry at you. I don't know how to accept my role in all of this. I thought you would be mad at me and feel let down yet the only person you seem upset with is yourself and that makes no sense to me."

"I have just been honest Tony! I don't feel angry with you or blame you for anything that happened. I feel like you saved me. Like you gave me the strength to get through it all and when I did fall you were the one that knew how to pick me up..."

"You are too good for me." He started to cry as he realized that she was the first woman in his life to love him unconditionally. Every other woman had always made him feel like he was to blame, even when things were not his fault. They had all made him have to jump through hoops and do everything to make him feel good enough or accepted and yet Michelle just loved him for who he was.

"Tony! Don't say that, how could you ever say that?"

He dropped his head. "No one has ever accepted me the way you do Chelle. Nina, every other woman in my life has done everything they could to push me down and make me feel like crap and yet you...without effort seem to accept and just love me for who I am. You try and make me feel good and wanted. I am not use to it. I'm sorry that is why I am messing everything up. You deserve the absolute best and yet you are the one that has been hurt..."

Michelle's body went even weaker on her and she kind of slumped in her Dad's arms. She could hear him sigh in panic as she put her arms on the side of the bed for more support. "Tony, I am sorry. I am so sorry you have been made to feel like that. It's not fair because you have the most beautiful heart of anyone I've ever met. The honest to god truth is though, you haven't done anything wrong, and you haven't let me down. Can't you see how good you have been to me through all of this?"

He kept his eyes down. Humiliated for how honest and raw he had just been in front of everyone and shocked at how he felt. Her words meant the world to him but he was in a dark hole and struggling to see out of it. He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know..."

"No, look at me Tony and tell me. All the moments we have had in the hospital or at home where you have held me, comforted me, put a smile on my face...how could I ask for more?"

"But you shouldn't have ever been in the position that I have had to do that..."

"Did you send me in on the mission Tony? Or did Chappelle? Did you fight tooth and nail the whole time to stop me from going in?"

"Yeah but..."

"No, no buts. Is that true?"

He sighed, "Yes."

"And do you feel like I have leant on you through it all? Haven't I been so completely open and raw with you? Don't we just get closer with every minute or am I just imagining that?"

"No, you're not. I've loved that you have let me in sweetheart. I just...I just HATE what you have been through. I hate seeing you hurt, I hate seeing you cry. All I want is to see you smile. Tell me how I am ever meant to deal with this?"

Her body slumped some more and Jackson had to grab her again to keep her from falling. He couldn't help but put one hand around her waist, making her yelp out in pain. "Sorry darling, sorry...I need to get you back in bed you are not well enough."

Tony had leant forward trying to catch her and Josh bolted around to their side of the bed. Pain radiated through her body and she lost her breath for a second. Then it felt like she went into shock or something, she felt like she couldn't do anything. Tears streamed down her face but she couldn't let out a sound. She was scared and when she knew that Josh was helping to support her as well she fell into her Dad's arms. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the world as he felt his daughter cling onto him like she hadn't done since she was a young child.

"Dad..."

"I've got you. I've got sweetheart."

"Don't let me go, I can't move."

"I won't." He tightened his grip on her and almost sighed in relief when he heard her finally start to cry again. He looked up over her head to Tony and then to his side a little at Josh and asked them with his eyes what the hell he was supposed to do.

Josh was supporting Michelle as much as he could as well. The back of her body was exposed and the sight of her black and blue body was a constant reminder of how delicate she was right now. "Michelle, your dad and I are going to lift you back onto the bed ok? Tony can you reach the button for the nurses?"

Tony nodded his head and reached for it. He was a little bit in shock. They went to move to lift her but she shook her head. "No, not yet please...I can't move. Can you give me a minute?"

"It's not going to get any better until you are lying down Chelle. Tony's called for help and we will get you something for the pain as soon as possible."

Tony felt useless. He couldn't get up and help like he wanted to and he felt guilty that it was because of how he was behaving that she was even in this position. He tried to move closer to her but his Dad stopped him. "No son. You can't and I don't want to end up with you in the same position. We will get Chelle back to you in a second." He hated seeing his son in so much pain. After everything he just heard he knew how much work was going to be involved to get them both through this.

A couple nurses came flying through the door. "Oh my God, what's going on? Why is Michelle up?"

Josh spoke assertively for them. "We had a situation. Michelle is in a lot of pain..."

Michelle could hear everything going on around her and she wished she had the strength to just turn her body and climb on the bed but she didn't. She could feel the cool air on her body and it suddenly hit her how exposed she had been this whole time to everyone. She clenched her Dad's shirt on his chest. "Dad?"

He leant his head down next to her hers, "It's going to be ok sweetie."

She whispered to him. "Can you pull my gown around to cover me?"

Jackson's heart dropped a little lower if that was possible. He reached one hand around to her back as much as he could reach and pulled the gown back together. A million things were running through his head, there were just so many things that he wanted to say to her but he didn't know where to even start. Like Tony had said, how the hell were they meant to ever accept what she had been through? He just wanted his daughter to be ok and happy and he would give anything to make her feel that way. Aware he only had a moment before everyone would be in the room to help them, he whispered back to her even though he knew Tony and Josh could hear as well. "I love you so much. I promise you it can only get better from here. I'm here for you sweetheart, anything in the world you need."

"I love you Dad. Thank you for being here."

All of a sudden Jackson felt a huge surge that he wanted to be the one to help Michelle back onto the bed. He knew she was going to feel more vulnerable and exposed with a pile of other people in the room and he felt a fatherly pang of protectiveness than he ever had before. "Let me lift you onto the bed..."

He felt her nod her head straight away and he sighed in relief. He looked up over at Josh who gave him a head nod that he had heard and was ready. Together both men were able to lift Michelle up, it took a couple of attempts before they found the best position and they could hear her trying not to scream in pain. Jackson saw her clench her eyes shut as tight as possible and that she holding her breath. They tried to move as quickly as possible but at the same time were so gentle with her.

Tony pulled the covers to the side and got himself ready for her. He didn't know quite what he was meant to do. He still felt so lost. He couldn't do anything but watch as they went about getting Michelle back on the bed. He saw Jackson also trying to keep her gown covering her as much as possible but she was still exposed and by now they had all seen to a large extent the injuries she carried from the last couple days. He could see the look of pain in her Dad's eyes when he saw the bruises and he knew how much it must be hurting Jackson. That was his one and only daughter and not only was she black and blue but she was clearly in emotional hell. He wished he could promise Jackson that he would make Michelle better, that he could make it all go away for her and make her happy again but with the way he felt right now, he wondered if he would just be lying. He figured that no one would believe him anyways after the state he was clearly in himself.

Tony realised how much that was hurting him as well right now. He wanted to be the strong capable man in Michelle's life that took away all her problems and made everything ok but right now he felt like he didn't understand how Michelle, along with everyone else wasn't questioning if he was capable of that.

Michelle felt her back land on the bed and she tried to shuffle from side to side until she found a position that she was comfortable in. She was trying so hard to just breathe right now, she felt so uptight and anxious that her whole body had become restricted and she didn't know what to do with herself. Once she was on the bed, Tony pulled the covers back up over her and she saw Josh move around to his side. Her Dad continued to try and help her get comfortable.

The doctor walked back in followed by a nurse. Josh explained quickly for them that it was ok, they had gotten Michelle back on the bed that she needed something for pain. James could tell by the way Josh had spoken, it wasn't the right time to be questioning them over what had happened. Instead he told them he had an injection for her and made his way to Michelle.

Jackson had trouble getting out of the way to allow James to administer the injection. He was holding her hand and he didn't want to let go yet, he felt like he couldn't. He was haunted over what had just happened and he needed her to know that he was right there with her, when he felt her squeeze his hand he became even more determined that he wasn't going to let he go right now. James pulled the covers back and gave Michelle an injection in her thigh. "This will help Michelle, just give it a few minutes ok?"

She nodded her head and thanked him. He looked at Tony and then made his way around to his side of the bed. When Tony realized he was going to give him one as well he put his hand up and stopped him. "No, no...I don't need one."

"Yes, you do Tony. I can see you do."

Tony shook his head adamantly. "No. I am not having one of those, I need a clear head right now. Maybe soon but...but not yet."

Josh put his hand on Tony's arm. "It's ok son, we are all here. Why do you feel like you need a clear head? Feeling better is the number one priority right now."

"No, the number one priority is fixing what just happened. I can't think clearly with that shit and I have some things I need to sort out or else I am going to go crazy."

He watched as all the men looked at each other trying to decide what to do. Tony put his hand out. "Seriously, let me just have a few minutes. I need to be able to sort through a few things and then I will. You can't force me to have the injection and I don't want to argue about it right now."

James put the injection back in the container. "Ok Tony, take a few minutes but as soon as you want this, just ring the buzzer ok? I'll have the nurses check your obs shortly and if they are not stable then I won't have a choice."

He nodded his head that he understood and they all watched in silence as James and the nurse left the room. Tony turned his attention to Michelle. He took a few deep breaths before he spoke to make sure his voice came out calm. "I'm really sorry I pushed you like that sweetheart. That I made you feel like you had to get up. I lost my temper but that's no excuse for the way I just spoke to you...I..."

She half turned her head to look at him but mainly kept her eyes trained on the blankets. She cut him off. "It's alright Tony. I understand...really I do. You don't need to be sorry."

She continued to amaze him. His head dropped and so did his voice, "I can't believe you, and you are so amazing. You should be yelling at me right now."

"I don't want to yell at you. I've got nothing to yell about. I just want to know that you are ok. I'd rather you be able to tell me how you are really feeling so we can sort through that then waste energy we both don't have on yelling at each other and besides...besides...I love you Tony, I want you to be happy and ok just as much as you want it for me."

"How I am really feeling is that someone needs to be to blame for what you are going through and..."

"DAVID is to blame Tony! No one else. Not you, not CTU, not me, not anyone but that fucking prick David."

She took him off guard a little bit. She was right. He was all prepared to fire another question at Michelle when he found himself looking up at Jackson and asking, "Do you still feel like I am the guy that can look after your daughter and make her happy? After everything you have seen now, you still going to tell me honestly that I am the one for Chelle?"

Jackson smiled at Tony. "Even more now than I did an hour ago if that is possible Tony. You have been through yourself Tony and yet all you care about is trying to look after my daughter. I know how much you love her. I know that you would do anything in the world for her and I know she feels the same way back. You need to cut yourself some slack here Tony, stop trying to take the whole thing on your shoulders and let your Dad and I in. We can help you both out as well you know. Whilst you are both adults and fully capable of taking care of yourselves, why wouldn't you let the people that love you so much try and help you through this right now?"

Before he had a chance to answer, Michelle piped in. "I need all of you right now. I need you more than I could ever explain Tony. I love you. You are hurting as well though right now and we should be leaning on each other and our families."

He was nodding his head, trying to take it all in.

Michelle continued. "And Tony...I know we have to talk about a lot of stuff but I need you to know with everything you have been saying. You are the only one for me. I know that in my heart. I am sorry that from the way you have been treated before it is hard for you to accept but I need you to hear me when I tell you that you are everything in the world and more than I could need. I don't expect you to be strong all the time, I don't expect you to fix everything for me...but I do expect that you will just let me love you for who you are. That just because I got upset before, or you lost your temper doesn't mean I automatically regret what I said to you earlier or how much I opened up to you. I loved that, I've never had that with anyone before and nothing could change how I feel about you. I'm not going anywhere and I want to be with you more than anything else. That is what is important to me. Can you accept that?"

Tony felt his heart flutter again for the first time since all this happened. He replayed her words over and over in his head so he would never forget them. It made him smile. He reached for her, "Can I hold you again baby?"

Everyone could see the relief wash over her face as she nodded her head. She let him pull her body in close and hold her hand. He leant down and kissed the side of her neck. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I can accept that, I promise. You just continue to blow me away, I love you so much. You are my everything baby."

**Thanks for reading. Please take the time to review, I really appreciate it:)**


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